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Number of results: 163 for term(s): Guide

Be Water Wise in School: Science that Impacts Your Campus | The Groundwater Foundation

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Water

This simple to follow activity guide brings together education and action. Written as a complete guide any educator can pick up and begin implementing in their classroom, it contains background information for teachers, lesson plan instructions, pre and posttests, vocabulary lists, website links for further student research, and community service learning project ideas (like Groundwater Guardian Green Sites).

Taking part in this project will help students develop a strong environmental ethic and increase their sense of personal worth and competence. The guide can be utilized by, not only classroom teachers, but by nature centers, zoos, children's museums, environmental clubs, and community centers. It can be adapted for any age level, but is written with particular focus on upper elementary and middle school levels.

"Be Water Wise in School" is 100 percent hands-on and has been correlated to National Science Education Standards.

To get your FREE copy, proceed through the checkout then click "download" on the order confirmation page.

Web Site: http://www.groundwater.org/shop/proddetail.asp?prod=1114d
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A Community Guide to Environmental Health | Jeff Conant and Pam Fadem

Resource type: Guide - Book/Magazine
Topics: Health - Environmental Health

From toilets to toxics, from watershed management to waste management, from raising crops to rising temperatures, how we use natural resources affects our health and well-being.

This highly illustrated guide helps health promoters, development workers, environmental activists, and community leaders take charge of their environmental health. In small villages and large cities, A Community Guide to Environmental Health can provide the tools, knowledge, and inspiration to begin transforming the crisis in environmental health.

This book contains activities to stimulate critical thinking and discussion, inspirational stories, and instructions for simple health technologies such as water purification methods, safe toilets, and non-toxic cleaning products. 23 chapters cover topics including:

preventing and reducing harm from toxic pollution

forestry, restoring land, and planting trees

protecting community water and watersheds

food security and sustainable farming

environmental health at home

solid waste and health care waste

how to reduce harm from mining, oil, and energy production

With dozens of activities to stimulate critical thinking and discussion, instructions for simple health technologies such as safe toilets, safe cleaning methods, and water purification methods, and hundreds of drawings to make the messages clear, A Community Guide to Environmental Health will be useful for people just beginning to address environmental health threats, as well as people with many years experience in the field.

Web Site: http://www.hesperian.org/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=HB&Product_Code
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A Field Guide to Christian Environmental Education | Joel Light

Resource type: Guide - Speaker
Topics: Stewardship - Earth - Education

This guide provides the necessary framework and information that can help establish a solid foundation on which individuals can build their Christian environmental education programs. Collectively, this book features the responses to a survey on the integration of Christian education and environmental education from professionals in the field of Christian environmental education.

This field guide is divided into 16 sections-Understanding the Basics; Curriculum; Scriptures; Theology; Virtues, Values, and Rights; Provisions and Human Threats; Environmental Education Activities and Topics; Ideas for Integration; Staff Training; Mission and Vision; Outcomes and/or Goals; Concepts and Objectives; Resources; Environmental Education Politics/Arguments; Words of Advice; and References.

Joel is also available for speaking and training purposes for organizations, schools, home schools, and congregations.

About the Author
Joel Light lives with his wife Anna, and his son, Jonah, in the Twin Cites area of Minnesota, where he can often be found in a canoe or kayak, spending as much time as possible enjoying and exploring God's Creation. Joel has a bachelor's degree in biology from Northland College in Ashland, WI. He also has a master's degree in education, with an emphasis in environmental education and natural science. He currently teaches biology at Northwestern College. He also teaches environmental themed graduate courses at Hamline University. Joel was formerly the lead naturalist and day-camp coordinator at Wargo Nature Center in Lino Lakes, MN, where he taught environmental and outdoor educational programs and directed their summer day camp program. Before that he and his wife directed Camp Aldersgate in Iowa. Joel comes from a long history of involvement with camps as both a camper and a counselor. He has extensive experience leading and developing environmental education programs in both Christian and secular situations.

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A GreenPrint for Minnesota: State plan for environmental education, third edition | Minnesota Environmental Education Advisory Board

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Education

A GreenPrint for Minnesota: State plan for environmental education, third edition www.seek.state.mn.us/greenprint is the state plan for environmental education for 2008-2018. It was developed by the Environmental Education Advisory Board, and supporting staff with input from the environmental education community. GreenPrint, third edition is designed to serve those of you who educate, provide funds, develop programs, support efforts, and set policies that affect environmental education in Minnesota.

Minnesota has a strong history of environmental education and the state plan is an integral part. GreenPrint, third edition and the three state plans before it have all been written to help educators bring their audiences closer to the state goals for environmental education (Minn. Stat. ? 115A.073). Because of the evolving nature of environmental education, GreenPrint, third edition also recommends that environmental educators target their programs and plans toward achieving environmental literacy for all Minnesotans.

The EE community is growing, as is the array of topics being taught. As Minnesotans seek ways to lessen their impacts on the natural world, the educational needs of sustainability topics such as energy efficiency, living locally, organic foods, transportation, green building, and climate change need to be met. The more we teach environmental education based on the understanding of natural and social systems and their interrelationships, the more issues environmental education includes and the more people needed to provide and support education on them.

As you jump into GreenPrint, third edition, whether as a policymaker or an on-the-ground educator, please make good use of the document by marking up the pages with notes, dog-earing corners and highlighting pieces until they glow. No plan, especially one as important as this one, should ever look brand new.

For more information
Have questions about the GreenPrint, third edition? Perhaps you would like us to give a presentation to your group on the state plan? Contact project manager Mike Kennedy, MPCA: mike.kennedy@state.mn.us, 218-302-6629 or 800-657-3864 toll free.

To view GreenPrint, third edition and resources that complement the plan go to: www.seek.state.mn.us/greenprint. Free printed copies are distributed by the Learning Resource Center (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency). Limited quantities are available, and the MPCA reserves the right to limit requests. Call: 651-757-2120 or 800-877-6300 or E-mail: resourcecenter.pca@state.mn.us .

Property of the Minnesota Environmental Education Advisory Board. Limited use, reproduction and quotation for non-profit and/or for educational purpose is permitted, provided citation to the original is included in the text.

Web Site: http://www.seek.state.mn.us/greenprint
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Ace Hardware, Environmental Best Practices for Retail Profit | The Water Foundation via a grant from the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance.

Resource type: Video - Guide
Topics: Conservation - Source Reduction - Recycling

Ace Hardware stores demonstrate that less waste equals smart business. The video introduces the concept of resource conservation and how it can be implemented in a business through source reduction (preventing waste) and recycling (utilizing waste). Four Minnesota Ace Hardware stores are featured demonstrating their waste reduction activities including: donating glass scraps to a local stain glass artist, installing LED and fluorescent light bulbs, using cloth towel dispensers in restrooms instead of paper towels, and many more.
Produced: 1998

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Activity Backpacks | Wargo Nature Center

Resource type: Guide - Exhibit/Display - Field Trip/Tour - Learning Kit
Topics: Wildlife - Environmental Sciences - General Ecology - Outdoor Recreation

Looking for a great way to explore the Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park and the Wargo Nature Center? Then the Activity Backpacks are just for you! Backpacks filled with family oriented activities are available for use at both the Coon Rapids Dam and the Wargo Nature Center. Simply stop by and ask for them! Each backpack has a theme from general nature to birds to trees and new packs are always being developed. The activities are designed for families or small groups to use as they explore the trails and natural resources found in the parks. Use of the backpacks is FREE! For more information, call Wargo Nature Center at 651-429-8007.

Web Site: http://www.anokacountyparks.com
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Affluenza | Bullfrog Films

Resource type: Video - Guide
Topics: Culture - Economics - Humanities - Stewardship

Affluenza is a fascinating look at one of the greatest social maladies of our time: overconsumption and materialism. Hosted by National Public Radio's Scott Simon, this video explores both the comical and sobering aspects of our consumerism and its enormous impact on our families, communities and the environment. It leaves the viewer with the positive message that it is possible to spend less money and be happier.
Produced: 1997
Closed Caption.

A Teacher's Guide and two brochures "All Consuming Passion" and "How Earth-Friendly Are You?" are also available upon request.

Book now available&.AFFLUENZA: THE ALL CONSUMING EPIDEMIC
http://www.simpleliving.net/resource.asp?sku=BAFF
Affluenza can be defined as "a painful, contagious, socially-transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more." This 2001 book by John De Graaf, David Wann and Thomas Naylor uses the metaphor of a disease to describe the harmful impacts on individuals, society and the natural environment of a lifestyle built upon the quest for constantly more material gain.

The book contains sections on Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment of this condition. For example, among the symptoms of affluenza can be the clutter of too many possessions, unused and broken stuff, lack of time, diminished family life, lack of meaning in one's life, and chronic dissatisfaction. Examples of solutions discussed in the book include simple living / voluntary simplicity, more time spent in nature, working fewer hours, more meaningful work, and broader societal change.

This 268-page book is based on two highly acclaimed PBS documentaries: "Affluenza" and "Escape from Affluenza". The book Affluenza is available in many public libraries and also retails new for $24.95 in hardback or $16.95 in paperback.

Web Site: http://www.affluenza.com
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Anoka County Recyclopedia | Anoka County Integrated Waste Management Department

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Recycling - Waste Management

The Recyclopedia informs and empowers
Anoka County residents to properly manage their household
waste. The guide offers information about curbside and drop-off
recycling opportunities, yard waste, tree waste, major
appliances, household hazardous wastes and other common
materials.

Web Site: www.AnokaCounty.us/recycle
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Another Awesome Aerosol Adventure | Consumer Aerosol Products Council (CAPCO)

Resource type: Video - Guide
Topics: Recycling

Another Awesome Aerosol Adventure is designed to provide updated and accurate information about aerosol products. Geared toward grades 4-8, the video introduces students to the basic scientific principles that make aerosol products work. It also discusses the components of the can itself. In addition, the environmental side of the aerosol can is examined - including its recyclability and its relationship with the ozone layer and cfc's.
Produced: 1996

Web Site: http://www.nocfcs.org
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Aquatic Insects and Water Quality Lesson Kit | Moriya Rufer, M.SC. Aquatic Entomology

Resource type: Learning Kit - Exhibit/Display - Guide - Web Site
Topics: Conservation - Diversity - Lake - Rivers

This lesson consists of an aquatic insect collection, identification guide, power point presentation, handouts and web site. This information can all be used together following a curriculum on aquatic insects and water quality of lakes and streams. It also illustrates to students the diversity of insects and conservation of our water resources.

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ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
SYSTEM CONCEPT(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
Elementary Level:
Habitat
Tropic Levels
Similarities and Differences
Cycles (Life cycles)

Secondary Level:
Cause and effect
Diversity
Habitat
Similarities and differences

SYSTEM BENCHMARK(S) TO BE ADDRESSED FOR GRADES 3-5, 6-8, 9-12:
Grades 3 - 5
B-1 In social and natural systems that consist of many parts, the parts usually influence one another.

Grades 6 - 8
C-2 The output from a social or natural system can become the input to other parts of social and natural systems.

Grades 9 - 12 (adult)
D-3 Feedback of output from some parts of a managed social or natural system can be used to bring it closer to desired results

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MINNESOTA ACADEMIC STANDARDS
MINNESOTA SCIENCE STANDARD(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
3.I.B.1 - The student will ask questions about the natural world that can be investigated scientifically.

3.IV.C.2 - The student will know that changes in habitat can be beneficial or harmful to an organism.

4.I.A.1 - The student will explore the uses and effects of science in our interaction with the natural world.

4.I.B.1 - The student will recognize when comparisons might not be fair because some conditions are not kept the same.

5.I.B.1 - The student will perform a controlled experiment using a scientific step-by-step procedure and present conclusions supported by the evidence.

5.IV.E.1 - The student will recognize that individuals of some species differ in their characteristics and that sometimes the differences give individuals an advantage in surviving and reproducing.

6.I.B.1 - The student will identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigation and those that cannot.

7.I.B.1 - The student will formulate a testable hypothesis based on prior knowledge.

7.IV.B.5 - The student will use the characteristics of an organism to identify the kingdom to which it belongs.

8.I.B.2 - The student will describe how scientists can conduct investigations in a simple system and make generalizations in more complex systems.

9-12.III.A.1 - The student will identify and research an environmental issue and evaluate its impact.

MINNESOTA HISTORY AND SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARD(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
9-12.II.G.4 - Students will identify and describe significant land use changes in Minnesota, issues related to land use, and analyze the impact of those changes and issues.

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NI3
NI4
NI5
NI6
NI7
NI8
NI9
NI10
N11
N12

Posted by Natural Innovations

Web Site: http://www.rmbel.info
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Aquatic Insects and Water Quality Presentation | Moriya Rufer, M.Sc. Aquatic Entomology

Resource type: Exhibit/Display - Guide - Speaker - Web Site
Topics: Conservation - Diversity - Lake - Rivers

This lesson consists of an aquatic insect collection, identification guide, and web site all presented by a speaker. The lesson is about aquatic insects and water quality of lakes and streams. The students will learn some basics on the role of aquatic insects in lakes and streams and learn to identify some common insects that can indicate good or poor water quality. It also illustrates to students the diversity of insects and conservation of our water resources.

**********

ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
SYSTEM CONCEPT(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
Elementary Level:
Habitat
Tropic Levels
Similarities and Differences
Cycles (life cycles)

Secondary Level:
Cause and effect
Diversity (Biodiversity)
Ecosystem
Similarities and differences

SYSTEM BENCHMARK(S) TO BE ADDRESSED FOR GRADES 3-5, 6-8, 9-12:
Grades 3 - 5
B-1 In social and natural systems that consist of many parts, the parts usually influence one another.

Grades 6 - 8
C-2 The output from a social or natural system can become the input to other parts of social and natural systems.

Grades 9 - 12 (adult)
D-3 Feedback of output from some parts of a managed social or natural system can be used to bring it closer to desired results.

**********

MINNESOTA ACADEMIC STANDARDS
MINNESOTA SCIENCE STANDARD(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
3.I.B.1 - The student will ask questions about the natural world that can be investigated scientifically.

3.IV.C.2 - The student will know that changes in a habitat can be beneficial or harmful to an organism.

4.I.A.1 - The student will explore the uses and effects of science on our interaction with the natural world.

4.I.B.1 - The student will recognize when comparisons might not be fair because some conditions are not kept the same.

5.I.B.1 - The student will perform a controlled experiment supported by the evidence.

5.IV.E.1 - The student will recognize that individuals of the same species differ in their characteristics and that sometimes the differences give individuals an advantage in surviving and reproducing.

6.I.B.1 - The student will identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigation and those that cannot.

7.IV.B.4 - The student will use and create dichotomous keys.

7.IV.B.5 - The student will use the characteristics of an organism to identify the kingdom to which it belongs.

8.I.B.2 - The student will describe how scientists can conduct investigations in a simple system and make generalizations to more complex systems.

9-12.III.A.1 - The student will identify and research an environmental issue and evaluate its impact.

MINNESOTA HISTORY AND SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARD(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
9-12.II.G.4 - Students will identify and describe significant changes in Minnesota, issues related to land use, and analyze the impact of those changes and issues.

**********
NI3
NI4
NI5
NI6
NI7
NI8
NI9
NI10
NI11
NI12

Posted by Natural Innovations

Web Site: http://www.rmbel.info
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Aquatic WILD | Council of Environmental Education

Resource type: Curriculum - Course/Workshop - Guide - Teacher Training
Topics: Eco-systems - Conservation - Habitat - Wildlife

The Project WILD K-12 Curriculum and Activity Guide focuses on wildlife and habitat, and the Project WILD Aquatic K-12 Curriculum and Activity Guide (developed through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) emphasizes aquatic wildlife and ecosystems. Each is organized in topic units and is based on the Project WILD conceptual framework. Because these materials are designed for integration into existing courses of study, instructors may use one or many Project WILD activities or the entire set of activities may serve quite effectively as the basis for a course of study. Activities in both guides are correlated to the Minnesota Graduation Standards.

Each Project WILD activity contains all the information needed to conduct the activity including objectives, method, background information, a list of materials needed, procedures, evaluation suggestions, recommended grade levels, subject areas, duration, group size, setting, and key terms. A glossary is provided, as well as a cross-reference by topics and skills.

Graduation Standards: Correlations to National Science Standards and MN Standards

Web Site: http://www.projectwild.org
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Assessing Learning through Service | Minnesota Department of Children Families & Learning

Resource type: Video - Guide
Topics: Agriculture

Overview: Service-Learning and Performance-Based Assessment

In 1996, the Minnesota Department of Children Families & Learning (CFL) sought to help teachers answer this oft-voiced question. CFL secured a three-year Corporation for National Service grant to 1) find out who was best at assessing students'service-learning experiences, and 2) share these best practices statewide. THe project took the title, "Assessing Learning through Service."

A statewide search discovered outstanding programs in Richfield, St. Peter, Winona, and at the Minnesota New Country School. This video documents the work of some of these educators. CFL also made 23 small grants to schools to improve performance-based assessment of service-learning.

Service-Learning and High Standards

The project found a close relationship between its effort to improve assessment of service-learning and statewide implementation of new performance-oriented High Standards for Graduation. The new Standards referred directly to service-learning, and called indirectly for authentic assessment in real-life situations. In addition, service-learning became one of four state School-to-Work implementaiton strategies.

These state initiatives raised the stakes for service-learning. Service-learning has potentially powerful benefits for communities, schools, and learners. Yet it is a challenge to educators to capture what students are learning through service, particularly when students leave the school for community-based agencies. In recent years, the tools of performance-based assessment have proven to be very helpful in meeting this challenge. Whatever Minnesota's policy regarding Standards, the service-learning field clearly needs to press on.

Assessment in Context

In order to develop quality assessments for service experiences, it is necessary to clearly identify the purpose(s) of those experiences within a lesson, unit, or course. Common learning goals include:

Application of subject matter
Problem-solving
Citizenship skills
Communication
Social Responsibility
Multicultural collaboration/Appreciation of differences

Further, quality assessment involves more than just picking up new tools. Service-learning ultimately must align with standards, curriculum, student work, and assessment. The National Service Learning and Assessment Network (NSLAN) developed the list of questions on the following page to help place assessment of service-learning in context.

Web Site: http://nicsl.coled.umn.edu
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Bighead and Silver Carp WATCH Card | Minnesota Sea Grant

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Exotic Species - Botany - Conservation - Environmental Studies

This wallet-sized card gives information about why bighead and silver carp (exotic fish) are a problem, outlines actions the public can take to prevent its spread, and provides identification details.

Web Site: http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/publications/X91
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Blue Sky Guide | Celilo Group Media, Inc.

Resource type: Guide - Web Site
Topics: Conservation - Energy - Health - Stewardship

Blue Sky Guide is a one-of-a-kind resource - a coupon book, a directory, a source of ideas and inspiration. It's your guide to living well and having fun in the Twin Cities region. Save hundreds of dollars while exploring the community and supporting local, sustainable businesses. Over 300 valuable coupons make this our largest book yet. Businesses with coupons include grocery, dining, entertainment, travel, garden and home adding up to savings of over $3,000.

All products and services appearing in Blue Sky Guide meet our specific environmental and community criteria. Read more about our criteria at http://www.ecometro.com/twincities/criteria.aspx.

Since 2001 Blue Sky Guide has provided the best of what's green and local in the Twin Cities region, and now we decided to enhance the design and contents. A lot has changed. New features for the 2008 edition include:
~ Neighborhood Maps: check out the seven neighborhood maps showing the location of Blue Sky Guide merchants.
~ Interviews with community members.
~ Resources and EcoManiac: find the best places and resources in the region for some of the most common needs. And if you're seeking the uncommon, check out our new EcoManiac feature to see how you measure up.
~ Carbon Counter: Readers calculate home, auto, and air travel CO2 emissions (carbon footprint), plus learn how to reduce CO2 and purchase offsets.
~ Done in partnership with the Climate Trust.
~ EcoMetro Decoder: Fun? Crazy? You decide with our first-ever EcoMetro Decoder. Take the steps listed, punch out the squares, place over the Secret Code Page and learn the secret. Then enter on-line to be entered in a drawing to win some great prizes.

The Blue Sky Guide is also offered as a fundraiser for schools and other non-profits.

Web Site: http://www.ecometro.com/twincities/coupon-book.aspx
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Bog Hopper Newsletter | Science Museum of Minnesota

Resource type: Guide - Book/Magazine
Topics: Science - Global Studies - Environmental Sciences

Subscribe to the Science Museum of Minnesota's Bog Hopper
newsletter. Published three times per year, this 16-page
newsletter highlights professional development opportunities,
resources, student competitions, museum events, CD-ROM and
book reviews, and science activities and information for
interested educators and their students.

Web Site: http://www.sci.mus.mn.us
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Care and Management of Captive Raptors | by Lori Arnet, M.S. and Mark Martell, M.S.

Resource type: Guide - Book/Magazine
Topics: Wildlife - Zoology

This book is primarily written for the beginning bird handler who might be thinking of working with raptors in an educational setting such as nature centers, zoos, and parks. It may also be useful to the people who already have birds for educational purposes as well as falconers and researchers who are in need of a source of information on successful techniques for keeping raptors in captivity. The book's chapters include: Permits, Selecting a Bird, Diet, Housing, Equipment, Training, Transporting Raptors, Maintenance Care, Medical Care, and Your Bird Escaped! A very useful Appendix section on Federal and State Office contacts, Food Suppliers, Handling and Training Suppliers, Maintenance and Medical Suppliers, as well as a glossary and Index.

Web Site: http://www.raptor.cvm.umn.edu
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Celebrate Arbor Day Guidebook | The National Arbor Day Foundation

Resource type: Booklet - Guide
Topics: Forests - Conservation - Habitat - Landscape

A valuable resource for anyone planning or participating in an Arbor Day celebration. Celebrate Arbor Day Guidebook provides great ideas and examples and is available free. This 24-page booklet is available to help with ideas and examples. It includes a history of Arbor Day, a planning calendar, poems and quotes suitable for presentations, sample proclamation, information on selecting and planting trees, and more!

Web Site: http://www.arborday.org
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Children and Nature 2008: A Report on the Movement to Reconnect Children to the Natural World | The Children & Nature Network (C&NN)

Resource type: Guide - Web Site
Topics: Outdoor Recreation - Education - Wilderness

As part of our ongoing efforts to build the movement, the Children & Nature Network has published this resource for leaders, organizers, and participants at the local, national, and international levels. This report on the movement to reconnect children and nature has been developed to serve as a tool for those who care deeply about the importance of reconnecting children with nature.

The document begins with a "Brief History of the Movement," demonstrating how much momentum has been achieved and continues to grow-particularly since 2005, with the publication and response to Richard Louv's seventh book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.

"The Importance of Children in Nature" makes the case for the many positive benefits to children from frequent experiences in the out-of-doors as a part of children's everyday lives-fostering healthy, happy, smart, and well-adjusted children. Indicators of the deficit-and the need for building a movement to reconnect children and nature-are also provided.

"The Movement: Now and in the Future" addresses the direction of the movement, and the barriers to it, including the fear of stranger-danger and other exaggerated risks.

"Building New Initiatives through More Effective Communications" addresses the motivating interests and dominating values of many parents, including the concepts that will likely be most effective in reaching them in order to encourage them to open the doors for their children to play in the out-of-doors.

"Ideas for the Future" and "A Coming International Movement" are both precursors to changes on the horizon-with inspiration, vision, and a call to action.

The Children & Nature Network (C&NN) was created to encourage and support the people and organizations working to reconnect children with nature. C&NN provides access to the latest news and research in the field and a peer-to-peer network of researchers and
individuals, educators and organizations dedicated to children's health and well-being.

Web Site: http://www.childrenandnature.org/uploads/CNMovement.pdf
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Children and the Outdoors State Policy Solutions Guide | Allen Cooper, National Wildlife Federation (NWF)

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Human Communities - Outdoor Recreation

The National Wildlife Federation released the comprehensive Children and the Outdoors State Policy Solutions Guide, written by Allen Cooper, Education Campaign Manager at NWF. This guide reviews leading state policy initiatives and provides policy makers and advocates with model solutions to the growing disconnect between children and the natural world.

The Children and the Outdoors State Policy Solutions Guide contains model resolutions, executive orders, and legislation that will aid efforts to reconnect children and families with nature. Solutions to the problems associated with an indoor generation must include providing youth with structured and unstructured opportunities for outdoor play, recreation, and learning. NWF's campaign to develop an effective response to this problem will mobilize policy across multiple fields, including the areas of public health, education, parks and recreation, and city planning.

Read the Report:
http://www.nwf.org/nwfwebadmin/binaryVault/State_Policy_Solutions_Guide_FINAL.pdf

Read the NWF Press Release:
http://www.nwf.org/news/story.cfm?pageId=58C22879-5056-A868-A0B865A56F9896A1

The National Wildlife Federation is America's largest conservation organization inspiring Americans to protect wildlife for our children's future.

Web Site: http://www.nwf.org/nwfwebadmin/binaryVault/State_Policy_Solutions_Guide_FINAL.pdf
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Citizen Lake Monitoring and Citizen Stream Monitoring Programs Training Video Clips | Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Resource type: Video - Web Site - Guide
Topics: Water - Lake - Rivers - Stewardship

http://www.pca.state.mn.us/publications/videos/clmp-videoclips.html

The MN Pollution Control Agency offers clips from the Citizen Lake-Monitoring Program (CLMP) and Citizen Stream-Monitoring Program (CSMP) training video that was produced in 2004 for the CLMP and CSMP volunteer water monitoring programs. These are brief segments of the overall training video intended to provide a sense of the content covered in the full training video. These clips include:
" Getting started in lake monitoring
" Safety
" Advanced lake monitoring
" Monitoring stream appearance
" Monitoring after it rains and recording stream stage

To order a copy of this training video, please contact one of the volunteer water monitoring staff below. Please note: A copy of the training video is automatically included when you sign up for one of the programs. Please state your preference for DVD or VHS format. To join the CLMP or CSMP, complete an on-line enrollment form for the program you're interested in. Enrollment forms are available on the CLMP Web page at http://www.pca.state.mn.us/water/clmp.html#signup and the CSMP Web page at http://www.pca.state.mn.us/water/csmp.html#form.

Staff Contacts
CLMP: Jennifer Klang jennifer.klang@pca.state.mn.us or 651-282-2618 or Pam Skon pamela.skon@pca.state.mn.us or 651-296-8544
CSMP: Laurie Sovell laurie.sovell@pca.state.mn.us or 651-296-7187 or Pam Skon pamela.skon@pca.state.mn.us or 651-296-8544

Web Site: http://www.pca.state.mn.us/publications/videos/clmp-videoclips.html
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Climate Change: A Wisconsin Activity Guide | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Climatology - Environmental Sciences

Climate Change: A Wisconsin Activity Guide is a resource for teachers to help students develop the knowledge and skills needed to become informed and active participants in society's climate change discussions. It touches on both the scientific aspects of climate change and social issues.

The 12 activities in this guide are designed primarily for students in grades 7 to 12. The guide contains activities applicable to a variety of subjects including sciences, math, language arts, social studies, and art. Each activity is designed to stand alone as an individual lesson, however, the more activities students complete, the better they will understand the many aspects of climate change.

This e-Appendix includes both .pdfs of Climate Change: A Wisconsin Activity Guide and materials, links and references that wil help you learn more about the topic and will enhance your use of the activities found in the guide.

You may download Climate Change: A Wisconsin Activity Guide at http://www.dnr.wi.gov/eek/teacher/climatechangeguide.htm, or to order your free printed copy send your name, e-mail, mailing address and request to DNRAirEducation@wisconsin.gov.

Web Site: http://www.dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/teacher/Climateguide/PDF/WisCCGuideALL.pdf
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Communicating and Learning About Global Climate Change: An Abbreviated Guide for Teaching Climate Change | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Resource type: Guide - Web Site
Topics: Climatology - Global Studies - Science

Project 2061 has long recognized that citizens who are science literate are vital to addressing some of the most pressing problems facing the nation and the world. Now, a new resource from the project looks at what today's students need to learn about the problems posed by global climate change.

Communicating and Learning About Global Climate Change: An Abbreviated Guide for Teaching Climate Change provides science educators with an overview of Project 2061's recommendations for what all students should learn about climate change and its environmental and societal implications.

You may read Project 2061's climate change guide for free online at http://www.aaas.org/news/press_room/climate_change/mtg_200702/climate_change_guide_2061.pdf.

To order print copies of the guide, visit http://www.project2061.org/publications/order.htm#TeachingGuides.

Web Site: http://www.aaas.org/news/press_room/climate_change/mtg_200702/climate_change_gui
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Community Action Guide: Building the Children & Nature Movement from the Ground Up | Children & Nature Network

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Wildlife - Communications - Outdoor Recreation - Education

In the United States, Canada and overseas, we see growing concern among parents, educators, physicians and others. Children aren't playing outside much anymore-not even in the back yard or the neighborhood park. This change in our relationship with nature has profound implications for the mental, physical and spiritual health of future generations - and for the health of the natural world. Young people need opportunities to experience and learn from nature during their growing years in order to become citizens and future decision makers who will take responsibility for the stewardship of the Earth.

This Guide is a work-in-progress, one tool among many that we all need in order to grow the children and nature movement. Whether your efforts are just getting started or building on existing complementary efforts, your journey will offer its own lessons from which the rest of us can benefit. The Children & Nature Network website (www.cnaturenet.org) will continue to serve as a portal where all of us can share successes, stories, tools and resources.

This is an international movement fueled by thousands of localized initiatives. No one size will fit all-this is, after all, a place-based issue, therefore every region will find its own unique approaches. There is much that we can learn from each other as we work for true cultural change. Thanks for your leadership, and for leaving no child inside.

Web Site: http://www.cnaturenet.org/uploads/CNActGuide.pdf
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Composting in the Classroom: Scientific Inquiry for High School Students | Nancy Trautmann and Marianne Krasny

Resource type: Guide - Web Site - Learning Kit - Book/Magazine
Topics: Compost

This is a comprehensive guide for teachers interested in guiding composting research projects by high school students. Downloadable in pdf format.

The goal of Composting in the Classroom is to provide high school science teachers with the background needed to engage students in research focusing on composting.

There are a number of reasons why composting research lends itself well to the classroom setting. First, composting of yard wastes and food scraps presents a partial solution to the solid waste crisis; thus, composting research addresses practical problems of concern to students and their communities. Second, nearly all the equipment and materials are inexpensive and readily available. With proper maintenance to prevent odor and insect problems, composting systems can be set up in the classroom, as well as outdoors in the school yard. Finally, many experiments can be conducted within two weeks or less, although long-term composting research projects are also possible.

Composting in the Classroom begins with an overview of composting science (Chapter 1). Chapters 2 and 3 provide instructions on how to build and add the right mix of ingredients to compost systems. Chapter 4 outlines how to monitor the composting process, and Chapter 5 describes how to measure the attributes of the finished compost. Once students have made and tested their compost, they might want to use it in plant growth experiments (Chapter 6). Several important points about conducting research are included in Chapter 6 as well as in Chapter 7. This last chapter is a discussion of how to help students design meaningful research projects focusing on composting.

Web Site: http://compost.css.cornell.edu/CIC.html
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Conserve Water | MN Project WET Coordinator

Resource type: Guide - Course/Workshop - Curriculum - Teacher Training
Topics: Water - Conservation - Stewardship

The Conserve Water Educators Guide provides teachers of middle school and high school students with the ins and outs of water conservation. Background information offers a hydrologic primer; past, present, and future water conservation issues; and case studies ranging from a rancher in west Texas to an ice cream factory in Massachusetts. These real-life examples encourage students to use critical thinking skills to examine different sides of each situation.

#CW-1 307 pages - 8 1⁄2 x 11 - b&w photos -illustrations - charts - glossary - resources

ISBN 1-888631-04-X

Web Site: http://mndnr.gov/projectwet
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Consumer Guide to Toxic Chemicals in Toys | The Ecology Center

Resource type: Guide - Web Site
Topics: Environmental Health - Lead

HealthyToys.org is a first step in providing parents, grandparents, and others who care about children with the information they need to make better choices when purchasing toys and other children's products.

We launched HealthyToys.org because children's products should not contain toxic chemicals! No government agency is adequately assuring that children's products do not contain harmful chemicals. Nor does any agency require labeling or disclosure to inform consumers about the chemical components of children's products. HealthyToys.org was launched to address the failures of our current system to regulate chemicals in products.

HealthyToys.org is based on research conducted by environmental health organizations and other researchers around the country. The Ecology Center is the coordinating organization for HealthyToys.org, but the many additional groups provided data or participated in the release of HealthyToys.org. For more information about these organizations, please visit http://www.healthytoys.org/about.us.php.

Web Site: http://www.healthytoys.org
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Department of Natural Resources Education Programs Catalog and Poster | Dawn Flinn

Resource type: Pamphlet - Poster - Guide
Topics: Education - Natural Sciences - Animals - Environmental Studies

Discover the variety of educational resources and programs offered by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. This catalog and poster summarizes over forty items, many of which are free! Order your copy today or view on-line at www.mndnr.gov/education.

Web Site: http://www.mndnr.gov/education
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Directory of Higher Education Environmental Programs | Committee for the National Insitute for the Environment

Resource type: Web Site - Organization - Guide
Topics: Education - Curriculum - Environmental Studies

The Committee for the National Institute for the Environment announces our
new Directory of Higher Education Environmental Programs (DHEEP) located on
the World Wide Web at <www.cnie.org>. The Directory contains detailed
information on undergraduate and graduate interdisciplinary programs,
including the full spectrum of environmental disciplines. We are in the
process of collecting information for the Directory and want to make sure
that your institution is included.

Administrators, faculty and staff can submit information through a Survey
Form at <www.cnie.org>. The form is designed to collect information about
program objectives, information on the process of establishing the program,
special opportunities for students, employment statistics and contact names
for colleagues and prospective students. The Directory was designed with
several audiences. DHEEP will assist students seeking interdisciplinary
programs, faculty and administrators working to improve or establish
degree-granting programs and employers looking for graduates with
appropriate academic backgrounds.

The Directory is suitable for degree-granting programs only; it is not
suitable for certificate programs or for programs that offer a minor with an
environmental focus. We are focusing on degree-granting programs in an
effort to simplify the information available in the Directory.

Web Site: http://www.cnie.org
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Directory of pollution prevention in higher education: faculty and programs | National Pollution Prevention Center for Higher Education

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Education - Pollution Prevention

Directory of faculty and staff in P2 higher education.

Web Site: http://www.mntap.umn.edu
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Do it Green! Magazine | The Twin Cities Green Guide

Resource type: Book/Magazine - Guide - Web Site
Topics: Education - Energy - Environmental Health - Stewardship

The Twin Cities Green Guide has just printed its first annual magazine, offering over 100 articles, resources and tips, written by Minnesotans, ranging from food to energy to transportation to education. The 90-page publication includes a Minnesota Green Pages directory of more sustainable businesses and organizations, an introduction by climate change activist Will Steger, and a Mini Green Guide in Spanish.

With a delightful graphic format and packed with interesting, useful and provocative information, Do It Green! makes for the perfect browsing piece and gift. The tone is one of conversation with a friend over a cup of tea. Articles, tips and resources for living greener are organized under the following topics:

* Food
* Goods & Services
* Home
* Gardening
* Energy
* Transportation
* Recreation
* Health
* Environment
* Community
* Business
* Citizen Action
* Education

The magazine is available for $7 at natural foods co-ops, bookstores, local shops in the Twin Cities or Duluth.

School libraries and environmental educators can get a free copy by sending us their contact information and mailing address.

Web Site: http://www.doitgreen.org/
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Earthquake Monitor | Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Education & Outreach (E&O)

Resource type: Web Site - Learning Kit - Guide - Exhibit/Display
Topics: Earth - Geology - Geography - Land

This website Seismic Monitor allows you to monitor global earthquakes in near real-time, visit seismic stations around the world, and search the web for earthquake or region-related information. You can also view seismograms and make dataset requests via its WILBER interface.

Earthquakes are shown as colored circles on a world map, where the size of the circle tells you the magnitude of the quake, using the legend at the top left of the map. Only earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 or greater are displayed.

Seismic Monitor is updated every 20 minutes.

The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Education & Outreach (E&O) program, in collaboration with the seismological and educational communities, develops and implements programs designed to enhance seismology and Earth Science education in K-12 schools, colleges and universities, and in adult education.

In addition to the real-time Seismic Monitor website, IRIS offers:
~ Lessons and Resources For Educators
~ Professional Development for Educators
~ School Seismographs
~ IRIS/USGS Museum display
~ Summer Internship Opportunities
~ IRIS/SSA Distinguished Lectureship
~ IRIS Educational Affiliate Membership
~ Earthquake maps, lists, general information
~ Interactive Software
~ E&O Program Plan

Please visit http://www.iris.washington.edu/about/ENO/ for more information about IRIS Education and Outreach programs.

Web Site: http://www.iris.edu/seismon/
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Education for Sustainability: an agenda for action

Resource type: Web Site - Guide
Topics: Sustainable Development - Education

Today, educators face a compelling responsiblility to serve society by fostering the transformations needed to set us on the path to sustainable development. The time has come to ensure that the concepts of education for sustainability -- in the broadest sense -- are discussed and woven into a framework upon which current and future educational policy is based.

As stated in Agenda 21, the document produced by the 1992 United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development, education is "critical for promoting sustainable development." Understanding the principles of sustainability and the interdependence of the environment, the economy, and social systems can help us learn to make the changes necessary to become effective stewards of natural resources and the environment. Education for sustainability of which many other disciplines are indispensable components, will engage partners from all arenas -- adult education, on-the-job training, other
formal and nonformal education programs, and the media -- to reach out to as many individuals as possible. Clearly, the time is right to engage in a dynamic process to educate not only children but all citizens about the economic and environmental realities
of today's world.

The "National Forum on Partnerships Supporting Education about the Environment" met in October 1994. Participants developed a common and compelling vision: to broaden our concept of education to include sustainable development. Individuals from business and government, the educational community, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) came together to share common themes, ideas, and challenges related to education for sustainability. This event paved the way for a diverse group of stakeholders to begin a long-term consensus-building process. This process of sharing ideas and forging new partnerships resulted in this document: Education for Sustainability: An Agenda for Action. The Agenda lays out a number of recommendations as to how we can build concepts of sustainability into our educational programs. Interwoven with these recommendations are specific initiatives, and opportunities for interested individuals from all sectors to become partners, leaders, or participants in activities that educate for sustainability. The recommendations provide a framework for a flexible strategy and a toolbox of ideas, which can be tailored to educational strategies reflective of individual and community needs.
The hope is that, through a variety of approaches, education for sustainability can involve broader audiences than it has in the past.

A key feature of the Agenda is the "Opportunities for Partnerships" section at the conclusion of each chapter. This section lists organizations mentioned in the chapter and is a vital reference tool in that it provides readers with names, organizations, and resources to guide next steps. A sampling of programs and successful initiatives is presented to illustrate cooperative efforts
and partnerships that are working. The Agenda is designed to serve as a model for projects, programs, and opportunities to encourage collaboration among a diverse set of partners.

Hundreds of individuals from across the country contributed to the formation of this Agenda. Its implementation will require diverse talents to further develop the ideas presented in this document. Working together, we can make education for
sustainability a critical part of a lifelong learning process.

Web Site: http://www.gcrio.org/edu/pcsd/toc.html
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Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit | Rosalyn McKeown, Ph.D.

Resource type: Guide - Web Site
Topics: Sustainability - Education - Sustainable Development

The Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit is an easy-to-use manual for individuals and organizations from both the education and community sectors. This resource addresses the potentially powerful alliance of school systems and communities working together to reach local sustainability goals. Together they can reorient existing curriculums to create locally relevant and culturally appropriate education.

The ESD Toolkit will be helpful as ministries of education, non-profit organizations, school system, communities, and other organizations prepare for United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005 - 2014.

The Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit can be downloaded free of charge at
http://www.esdtoolkit.org

Web Site: http://www.esdtoolkit.org
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EE Resources for multi-cultural education | Staff

Resource type: Web Site - Booklet - Guide
Topics: Stewardship - Multilingual/ESL/ELL - Recycling - Conservation

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has compiled several free resources for people teaching English as a Second Language. For more information and to download copies of these resources, visit http://www.pca.state.mn.us/oea/ee/esl.cfm.

Education on environmental issues is important for all Minnesotans. For increasing numbers of people in the state, English is not the native language. Development of these resources using environmental issues as their integrating concept was funded, in part, by state grant programs. These workbooks are intended for students in English as a second language (ESL) and limited English proficiency (LEP) classes.

Newcomers and the Environment
ESL textbooks for intermediate and advanced-level students

This ESL workbook profiles the lives of immigrants who have come to America and now have successful careers in the field of environmental education and protection. Instructors will find these classroom-tested textbooks easy to use, with material written at a level appropriate for teaching ESL.

In addition to exercises to teach the rules of language, students will get practical information about how to live in the U.S. and be a friend of the environment. The stories about real people keep them interested in the environmental issues discussed, and the exercises help them improve their English skills.

This workbook includes the following languages: Bosnian, Hmong, Russian, Somali, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
ESL textbook/workbook

Since the first edition of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle was printed in 1995, over 10,000 copies have been used by ESL programs around Minnesota. Over the years, the workbook has been done in a total of 12 languages, reflecting the Minnesota's growing diversity.

This text was written with two complementary goals:

~ Create a textbook which both teachers and tutors could use to teach immigrants how to speak, read and write English. Each chapter includes 3 to 5 ESL exercises, giving students lots of opportunity to practice both written and spoken English with the information contained in that chapter.
~ Communicate information about reducing, reusing and recycling to immigrants with limited English skills, so that they would be more willing and able to participate in local recycling and waste reduction programs. More than 100 photographs help illustrate vocabulary words where appropriate, with key vocabulary words translated into 12 different languages - Bosnian, Hmong, Russian, Somali, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

Community Power grant: EE Activities for ESL
www.mcedservices.com/recyclex/recyclex.htm
These interactive exercises explain what happens to the garbage that we throw away. They give examples of how to reduce, reuse and recycle. They also explain household hazardous waste, how to read product labels, and how to dispose of waste properly. The explanations are in English, Hmong, Arabic and Somali, and can be heard online or printed from pdf files. The exercises are all in English, and can be used online or printed.

Web Site: http://www.pca.state.mn.us/oea/ee/esl.cfm
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EE-Link | A Project of NCEET

Resource type: Organization - Web Site - Guide
Topics: Education - Conservation - Eco-systems - Stewardship

Consistent with the key principles of environmental education, our mission is to spread information and ideas that will help educators explore the environment and investigate current issues with students. We are building this resource for students, teachers and professionals that support K-12 environmental education, such as media specialists, inservice providers, nature center staff and curriculum developers.

EE-Link is maintained by the National Consortium for Environmental Education and Training, a partner in the Environmental Education and Training Partnership. Send comments, corrections, site suggestions to the EE-Link project team.

Web Site: http://www.eelink.net
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Energy Hog Campaign | Alliance to Save Energy

Resource type: Web Site - Guide - Learning Kit
Topics: Energy

The Alliance to Save Energy's Energy Hog campaign is providing energy education tools to the people who influence the lives of the next generation: teachers. Our research shows that most students are uninformed about what energy is, where it comes from and why it is important to conserve. The Energy Hog, a dastardly character who represents wasted energy, makes learning about energy fun. Saving energy lessens our dependence on foreign oil, improves health, preserves our environment and reduces our energy bills.
The Energy Hog campaign offers educators free resources to bring energy education in the classroom to save energy while helping students build vital real-world skills.

Learning about energy is fun when you include energy hogs! The Energy Hog Challenge is a set of classroom activities that guide children through lessons about different sources of energy, how we use energy at home, and how to bust energy hogs to save energy. Each student can become an Official Energy Hog Buster upon completion of the lessons. It covers the subject areas of Science, Math, Technology, Language Arts and Social Studies, and meets national learning standards and is designed for grade levels 3-8.

When children become Official Energy Hog Busters, they will:

~ Learn good energy-saving habits
~ Bring their lessons home to help their families save money by reducing home energy bills
~ Protect natural resources for future generations

Schools spend more money on energy than on computers and textbooks combined. Reducing energy use is an effective way to help cash-strapped schools funnel more money into the classroom instead of the local utility. Just as important, the concept of energy efficiency provides multidisciplinary learning opportunities in math, science, and language arts.

Educators can download and copy the Energy Hog Challenge, a set of classroom activities and lessons that teach where energy comes from, how we use energy, and why it's important to conserve. In addition, the Energy Scavenger Hunt and the Energy Vampires Hunt activities make for great take-home activities that get students working with their parents to evaluate the energy-saving potential for their own homes. Free Energy Hog tattoos are available while supplies last.

For more information about the Energy Hog campaign, visit http://www.ase.org/section/program/hog/ or contact Erin O'Sullivan at the Alliance to Save Energy at eosullivan@ase.org or call (303) 333-4570.

Web Site: http://www.energyhog.org/adult/educators.htm
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Energy Information Center | Minnesota Department of Commerce

Resource type: Organization - Resource Person - Guide - Web Site
Topics: Energy - Pollution Prevention - Sustainable Development

This walk-in information center and telephone hot-line service provides free publications and unbiased energy information to the public covering home energy conservation, the development of alternative energy sources in Minnesota, and current data on statewide energy use and supplies.

Web Site: http://www.commerce.state.mn.us
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Environmental Education Communication For a Sustainable World: A Handbook for International Practitioners | Academy for Education Development & GreenCOM

Resource type: Guide - Web Site
Topics: Sustainable Development - Communications

This handbook of environmental communication strategies was created by GreenCOM, the Environmental Education and Communication Project of the United States Agency for International Development at the Academy for Educational Development, Washington D.C.

Academy for Education Development is a nonprofit organization working globally to improve education, health, civil society and economic development.

This manual was designed for those who make policy and design programs that affect people and the environment. The staff of GreenCOM, the U.S. Agency for International Development's Environmental Education and Communication Project, have arranged the following chapters and case studies to share experiences, information, and models of working in education and communication:

Section One, Fundamental Concepts in Environmental Education and Communication (EE&C), provides an orientation to four theoretical perspectives that have shaped GreenCOM's approach to environmental education and communication projects: behavior change, participation, gender, and systems thinking. Each has its own research framework and following, yet each contributes an important set of ideas to environmental education and communication activities.

In Section Two, Planning EE&C Programs, a variety of GreenCOM experiences illustrate the basic process of designing education and communication programs: needs assessment, formative research, pre-testing, and evaluation. Taken together they form a reliable and well-tested model for program development.

Section Three, Conducting EE&C Activities, looks at staff and participant training workshops, mass media campaigns, and how EE&C can affect public policy.

Section Four, Putting It All Together, highlights several successful countrywide strategies from GreenCOM's field experience. These cases illustrate some of the diverse approaches to building capacity and planning and implementing environmental education and communication. The projects involved training, policy initiatives, awards schemes, curriculum development, and multifaceted communication campaigns.

This book is also downloadable free from the internet at http://www.aed.org/Publications/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/getfile.cfm&pageid=2481.

Environmental Education & Communication for a Sustainable World is also published in Spanish as Educacion y Comunicacion Ambientales para un Mundo Sustentable: Manual Internacional by Grupo de Estudios Ambientales, Mexico D.F., Mexico and is available on the internet at the address above.

Web Site: http://www.usaid.gov/environment/greencom
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Environmental Education in Minnesota's State Parks | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Education - Natural Sciences - Environmental Sciences

Listing of state parks and their environmental education opportunities.

Web Site: http://www.seek.state.mn.us/stparks.cfm
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Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence | North American Association for Environmental Education

Resource type: Book/Magazine - Guide - Curriculum
Topics: Education - Teaching - Curriculum

These guidelines were prepared by the North American Association for EE in collaboration with educators, curriculum developers, state and federal agencies, school administrators, EE specialists, and environmental scientists. Fundamental to these guidelines is that quality EE: 1) is learner centered, providing students with hands-on learning experiences that challenge them to use higher-order thinking skills; 2)provides a real-world context from which concepts and skills can be learned; and 3) presents the environment within the context of human influences such as economics, culture, political structure, and social equity as well as natural processes. The guidelines discuss key characteristics of quality EE, including that they be fair and accurate in describing environmental issues and reflect a diversity of perspectives, build lifelong critical and creative thinking skills, and use instructional techniques that are learner-centered and connected to student's everyday lives. Over the next two years, NAAEE will also publish guidelines that address K-12 learner outcomes and educator preparation.

Web Site: http://eelink.umich.edu/naaee.html
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Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence | National Project for Excellence in Environmental Education

Resource type: Book/Magazine - Pamphlet - Guide
Topics: Education - Curriculum - Communications - Teaching

Are you developing or selecting instructional materials?

Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence recommends guidelines for selecting, evaluating and producing top-quality EE lesson plans, curricula, and other instructional materials. Over 1000 EE professionals participated on the writing team and reviewed drafts.

A publication of the National Project for Excellence in Environmental
Education, initiated by the North American Association for Environmental Education and funded through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (1996. 24 pp. ISBN 1-884008-41-0.)

For further information please e-mail (CSmith410@aol.com)

Web Site: http://www.naaee.org/
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Environmental Education Teacher Preparation Project | Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance

Resource type: Teacher Training - Higher Education - Video - Guide
Topics: Education - Environmental Sciences - Curriculum - Teaching

The Minnesota Environmental Education Teacher Preparation Project was a cooperative effort among ten higher education institutions in Minnesota to develop and implement a coordinated statewide environmental education (EE) program for classroom teachers and students enrolled in teacher education programs. The project aimed to help teachers address the Minnesota graduation standards, as well as meet the goals outlined in A GreenPrint for Minnesota: State Plan for Environmental Education by providing teachers with training in both the content and delivery of EE for use across curriculum areas. The project was unique in that a partnership approach was taken towards the development of the courses and their goals. The project was funded by the Minnesota Legislature as recommended by the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCMR) for the period between 1995 and 1998. This project was an attempt to bring together the education departments of higher education institutions with teachers and other environmental education deliverers to plan an in-depth course that would give teachers who want to teach environmental education the background to do so competently.

Project Goals
Each university course was based on the same set of overall goals. Working within these goals, each university had the creative latitude to develop their course highlighting the skills and assets of their individual team and local environment. As a result, each course varied significantly from one another. The goals of the project aimed to help teachers address the Minnesota graduation standards and:
1. Understand basic ecological principles;
2. Understand the interrelationships among people, social systems, and natural systems;
3. Use integrated and innovative teaching methods to deliver environmental education across curriculums;
4. Find, access, and use environmental education teaching resources including innovative technology.

The Video
A 16-minute video documenting the Minnesota Environmental Education Teacher Preparation Project gives a basic overview of the project and focuses primarily on documenting the implementations of the project goals by newly trained (1997) teachers into their classrooms and schools. These in-service courses were held in the summers of 1996 and 1997 and have been instilled as permanent offerings in the majority of the participating universities. The video continues to be useful for teachers interested in taking these courses. It is also useful for other states interested in carrying out a similar project.

Web Site: http://www.pca.state.mn.us/about/library.html
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Environmental Education Toolkit for Early Childhood Family Education Programs | Hennepin County and Community POWER

Resource type: Guide - Web Site
Topics: Source Reduction - Waste Prevention - Green Living - Hazardous Waste

This resource was created through a partnership of Hennepin County, Community POWER and early childhood family educators. It is a free, on-line environmental toolkit for early childhood family education programs. The toolkit will help Early Childhood Family educators actively engage families in creating a healthier environment in the home by reducing waste, properly disposing of hazardous items, and rethinking reuse and recycling.

The tool kit includes:

Essential background and preparation information for educators to successfully present waste and toxicity reduction information.

Lesson plan ideas for parent-child interaction activities and adult lessons.

Resources available to support teaching waste and toxicity reduction concepts including handouts, websites, learning trunks and presenters.

Special event ideas

Waste reduction and recycling resources for internal operations.

It also:

follows Minnesota's Parent Education Core Curriculum;

was written by experienced ECFE leaders;

includes detailed lesson plans and resources;

is flexible and can be modified to fit many programs;

is free and downloadable at�http://www.greenguardian.com/ECFEtoolkit.

Additional resources and information may be found in the Appendix A at http://www.greenguardian.com/grants/educational-tool-kits/early-childhood-family-education-tool-kit/appendix-sample-handouts-reso.

A similar tool kit for congregations is available at http://www.greenguardian.com/c3toolkit

Web Site: http://www.greenguardian.com/sites/default/files/EFCE-EnvEdToolKit-080404.pdf
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Environmental Health 101 Lesson | National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Resource type: Curriculum - Guide
Topics: Environmental Health

Environmental Health Perspectives Science Education Program
ehponline.org/science-ed

Summary
Students are introduced to basic environmental health concepts in the context of an air quality study that used personal monitoring devices to measure exposure.

Lesson Type Short: This lesson will take 20 - 30 minutes to implement.
Thematic: This lesson can be used alone or as part of a series of lessons to develop deeper understanding of a topic or concept. This lesson is part of the "Basic Concepts" series of thematic lessons, which will include additional lessons on toxicology and risk assessment (published in May 2009).

EHP Article Backpack on Board: Individual Air Monitoring Predicts Prenatal Exposure to PAHs
Environ Health Perspect 116:A490 (2008)
http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2008/116-11/ss.html#back

Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students should be able to

define basic environmental health terms (environment, environmental health, pollutant, source, exposure, dose, response, and risk)

identify the application of those terms from an article describing an environmental health study

differentiate between three different fields of science within the environmental health sciences (toxicology, epidemiology, and exposure assessment)

Class Time 30 minutes

Grade Level Middle school, high school, college

Subjects Addressed Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science

Background Information
This lesson provides sufficient background information for a basic introduction to environmental health. Please refer to other lessons in the "Basic Concepts" thematic series for more in-depth development of related concepts in toxicology and risk assessment.

To view the complete lesson, go to http://www.ehponline.org/science-ed/2009/Basic Concepts Lesson.pdf

Web Site: http://www.ehponline.org/science-ed/2009/Basic%20Concepts%20Lesson.pdf
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Environmental Literacy Scope and Sequence

Resource type: Guide - Curriculum - Teacher Training
Topics: Education - Natural Sciences - Human Communities - Environmental Studies

This is a tool for educators that provides a systems approach to environmental education in Minnesota for preK through adult learners. It describes the benchmarks which help define the scope of knowledge students need to understand in order to become environmentally literate. Also the key and supporting concepts about the interaction of natural and social systems and the sequence in which they are to be taught.

The Environmental Literacy Scope and Sequence is designed to help create opportunities for mainstreaming environmental education in a way that has not been possible before.

It provides a systems approach to environmental education that can focus the efforts of teachers and deliverers of environmental education to unify their many independent efforts to achieve the goal of environmental literacy. Because the Scope and Sequence is based on both state and national standards, it enables environmental education deliverers to build, adapt or integrate curriculum and assessments that are most appropriate for their particular grade level or audience.

Scope: The vision of what the students should have achieved at the end of their entire school experience.

Sequence: A series of age-appropriate achievements that students succeed at during their school experience in order to master the Scope.

The Environmental Literacy Scope and Sequence has been translated into Japanese and is available to download at http://www.seek.state.mn.us/eemn_c.cfm.

For more information regarding either the English or the Japanese version, and to view or download the documents, go to: http://www.seek.state.mn.us/eemn_c.cfm

Web Site: http://www.seek.state.mn.us/eemn_c.cfm
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Environmental Protection Begins with You: A Guide to Environmental Community Service | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Resource type: Guide - Web Site
Topics: Recycling - Hazardous Waste - Compost - Stewardship

Volunteering for environmental community service projects provides an opportunity for people of all ages and skill levels to enjoy new experiences, meet new people, learn new skills and put ideas and talents to work while doing their part in protecting the environment. This guide contains examples of volunteer projects related to solid waste management--recycling, reuse, composting and disposal--a list of organizations that are involved in environmental issues and service projects, and a glossary of environmental terms. We hope the guide inspires and motivates people to "make a difference" in the environment by participating in a volunteer program or starting one of their own.

To order free copies of Environmental Protection Begins with You - A Guide to Environmental Community Service (EPA530-K-06-001), please contact the National Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP) on the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/publicat.htm, by email at ncepimal@one.net, by phone 1-800-490-9198 or (513) 489-8190 or by mail
U.S. EPA/NSCEP
P.O. Box 42419
Cincinnati, Ohio 45242-0419.

For organizations interested in bulk orders (100 or more), please contact Kathy Bruneske at Bruneske.Kathy@epa.gov with your contact information and how many copies you would like sent to you.

Web Site: http://www.epa.gov/osw/docs/comm-serv2.pdf
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Environmental Toolkit for Congregations | Congregations Caring for Creation (C3)

Resource type: Guide - Web Site
Topics: Resource Management - Stewardship - Sustainability - Environmentally Preferable Products

Created during 2007, this free 66-page resource will help those in/working with faith communities to educate and actively engage members in reducing waste, changing purchasing practices, rethinking reuse and recycling, and properly disposing of hazardous items. A 12-page Supplement goes into more depth on the theological basis for people of faith taking environmental actions, and provides scripture references, sermon and hymn ideas, and national web sites for the Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Baha'i, and Unitarian Universalist faiths. An Appendix B lists specific fact sheets and handouts, some free for download and some available by calling to order copies.

The Toolkit is divided into these sections:

Overview and Getting Started

Calendar of Activity Ideas

Activity Ideas for Congregations, Adults, Teens and Children

Special Event Ideas

Tracking and Evaluation Tools

Waste Reduction for Internal Operations

Additional Educational Resources (includes Appendix B)

The Twin Cities-based non-profit organizations Congregations Caring for Creation (C3) http://www.congregationscaringforcreation.org/) and the Alliance for Sustainability (http://www.afors.org) produced this graphically attractive guide, and used information regarding waste and toxicity reduction provided by Hennepin County Environmental Services.

The Toolkit, Supplement and Appendix B can be viewed and downloaded at the web page above. Congregations in Hennepin County can receive a printed version of the Toolkit by calling 612/348-4168.

For more information and for assistance on how to implement a waste and toxicity reduction campaign in a congregation, contact the Alliance for Sustainability: Sean Gosiewski at 612-331-1099 x 1 or sean@afors.org

A similar tool kit for early childhood family education programs is available at http://www.greenguardian.com/grants/educational-tool-kit

Web Site: http://www.greenguardian.com/grants/educational-tool-kits/congregational-tool-kit
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Environmental Video Guide | Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Resource type: Guide - Video - Web Site
Topics: Environmental Studies - Environmental Sciences - Education

This guide is a compilation of educational videos on environmental topics that are available from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's Resource Center. The guide includes a title list, video descriptions, age appropriateness, and topics covered.

It can be downloaded in pdf format at http://www.pca.state.mn.us/publications/p-ee5-02.pdf.

These videos are available to Minnesotans for a free*, three-week loan. (*Borrower pays return postage costs.)

Web Site: http://www.pca.state.mn.us/publications/p-ee5-02.pdf
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EPA's Climate CHange Emission Calculator Kit (Climate CHECK) | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Resource type: Web Site - Guide - Learning Kit
Topics: Energy - Conservation - Stewardship - Environmental Sciences

EPA is pleased to announce that the Climate Change Emission Calculator Kit (Climate CHECK) is now available. Climate CHECK is a free, user- friendly, Excel-based program designed to teach high-school students about the science, drivers, and impacts of climate change and provide them with the knowledge, tools, and resources to increase climate-change awareness and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at their school.

High school students can investigate the link between everyday actions at their high school, greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Using EPA's Climate CHange Emission Calculator Kit (Climate CHECK) (WinZip of Excel spreadsheet, 3.4 MB) students can learn about climate change, estimate their school's greenhouse gas emissions and conceptualize ways to mitigate their school's climate impact. Students gain detailed understandings of climate-change drivers, impacts, and science; produce an emission inventory and action plan; and can even submit the results of their emission inventory to their school district. You can also use Portfolio Manager to compare the energy use of your school with other schools nationwide, and earn the ENERGY STAR for your school if it qualifies as a top performer.

Climate CHECK:

* Educates high-school students about climate change and greenhouse gas emissions,

* Allows students to inventory their school's greenhouse gas emissions using built-in calculators and school-specific "activity data," and

* Provides resources to help students develop and implement a mitigation action plan.

Web Site: http://epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/school.html
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Eurasian Watermilfoil WATCH Card | Minnesota Sea Grant

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Exotic Species - Botany - Conservation - Environmental Studies

This wallet-sized card gives information about why Eurasian watermilfoil (an exotic plant) is a problem, outlines actions the public can take to prevent its spread, and provides identification details.

Web Site: http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/publications/X85
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Exploring Science Writing: An Environmental Focus | Michigan Sea Grant and Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Programs

Resource type: Guide - Book/Magazine
Topics: Exotic Species - Eco-systems - Environmental Sciences - Environmental Studies

More than ever before, today's high school students must be prepared for a complex world where science plays a role in every sphere. Those who can understand and write science-based stories for the general public will continue to be in demand by newspapers, magazines, and media organizations. Exploring Science Writing: An Environmental Focus gives students and teachers an exciting place to start.

This 74-page reader introduces students to crucial issues facing the Great Lakes and oceans. The spiral-bound reader was developed in collaboration with more than 100 teachers. It features easy-to-teach writing principles, teaching notes, and teacher-developed activities to enhance high-school language arts, science, and interdisciplinary curriculums.

Web Site: http://seagrant.umn.edu/publications/S10
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Exploring Your Environment | 4-H Program

Resource type: Booklet - Curriculum - Guide
Topics: Eco-systems - Environmental Health - Environmental Sciences - Environmental Studies

Students will learn about:
The activities in these books help youth discover six important concepts or ideas, related to ecology while they explore their environment. Young people are naturally curious. Nurturing this natural sense of wonder is key to science learning. The projects/activities focus on the development of scientific thinking and process skills that are essential to scientific inquiry.

The eight scientific thinking and process skills youth will build on are: Observing, Communicating, Comparing and Measuring, Ordering, Categorizing, Relating, Inferring, Applying.

1. Eco-Wonders (grades 5-7)
2. Eco- Adventures (grades 8-10)
3. Eco-Actions (grades 11-12)
4. Group Activities Guide (instructor)

**********

ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
SYSTEM CONCEPT(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
Concepts:
cause and effect
ecosystem
habitat

SYSTEM BENCHMARK(S) TO BE ADDRESSED FOR GRADES 3-5, 6-8, 9-12:
Grades 3-5
B-1 In social and natural systems that consist of many parts, the parts usually influence one another.

Grades 6 - 8
C-3 Social and natural systems are connected to each other and to other larger or smaller systems.

Grades 9 - 12 (adult)
D-2 Interaction between social and natural systems is defined by their boundaries, relation to other systems, and expected inputs and outputs.
D-3 Feedback of output from some parts of a managed social or natural system can be used to bring it closer to desired results.

**********

MINNESOTA ACADEMIC STANDARDS
MINNESOTA SCIENCE STANDARD(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
9-12.I.A.3- The student will recognize that in order to be valid, scientific knowledge must meet certain criteria including that it: be consistent with experimental, observational and inferential evidence about nature; follow rules of logic and reporting both methods and procedures; and, be falsifiable and open to criticism.

9-12.I.B.6- The student will give examples of how different domains of science use different bodies of scientific knowledge and employ different methods to investigate questions.

9-12.I.B.6- The student will give examples of how different domains of science use different bodies of scientific knowledge and employ different methods to investigate questions.

NATIONAL SCIENCE STANDARDS: Understands scientific inquiry, Organisms both cooperate and compete in ecosystems, Human beings live within the world's ecosystems and modify ecosystems by destruction of habitats through pollution, etc.

**********
NI5
NI6
NI7
NI8
NI9
NI10
NI11
NI12

posted by Natural Innovations

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Exporting Harm: The High-Tech Trashing of Asia | Basel Action Network

Resource type: Video - Guide
Topics: Hazardous Waste

This remarkable and disturbing video documents the end-of-life destinations of "recycled" electronic waste in China. It reveals the environmental and occupational hazards that these citizens encounter on a daily basis and conveys why it is essential that we reduce toxicity and establish producer responsibility as a management technique in the U.S. It was produced by the Basel Action Network (BAN), an international network of activists seeking to put an end to economically-motivated toxic waste export and dumping - particularly hazardous waste exports from rich industrialized countries to poorer, less-industrialized countries.

A 51 page report with the same name can be downloaded off of http://www.ban.org/

Web Site: http://www.ban.org/
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Fisheries Tour Packet | MinnAqua Program

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Fish - Habitat - Outdoor Recreation

This three-ring binder includes four lesson plans covering the topics of habit and habitats, fish identification, fish management and ethics and regulations. The set includes two slide shows, color fish pictures, and information about local fish hatcheries, resource book, and a student worksheet. This resource is recommended to teachers as part of a hatchery tour component.

Web Site: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/minnaqua/index.html
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GEMS Teacher Guides Available at Headwaters Science Center | John Mathisen

Resource type: Curriculum - Booklet - Teacher Training - Guide
Topics: Conservation,Environmenta - Curriculum,Natural Scienc - Environmental Sciences - Natural Sciences

The GEMS, Great Explorations in Math and Science, activity guides are developed at the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California at Berkeley and have been funded by the National Science Foundation. All activities have been classroom tested. They are suitable for pre-school and kindergarten, through grade 9, and can be extended into older grades. The guides can be purchased at the Headwaters Science Center gift shop in Bemidji. A catalogue with a complete description of each guide is also available in the bookstore. They are listed and described at the HSC web site .

Web Site: http://www.HSCBemidji.org
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Generation E: Students Leading for a Sustainable, Clean Energy Future | National Wildlife Federation

Resource type: Report - Guide
Topics: Sustainability - Climatology - Energy

35 ways students are creating a sustainable future at U.S. colleges and universities - cutting carbon emissions, saving resources and equipping the coming generation for a green energy economy.

Generation E is a 70 page, example-rich, best-practices report on exemplary student-led sustainability activities and programs at schools around the U.S. Like other guides in the NWF Campus Ecology Climate and Sustainability Series, it features dozens of examples from postsecondary institutions of all types; public and private, urban and rural, large and small. Generation E spotlights more than 160 campuses from 46 states plus the District of Columbia.

Download Generation E (for free) at http://www.nwf.org/campusecology/resources/HTML/generation_e_report.cfm

Web Site: http://www.nwf.org/campusecology/resources/HTML/generation_e_report.cfm
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Generation Earth Video and Companion Manual | Jeff Barrie and Tyson Miller, Earth Endeavors

Resource type: Video - Curriculum - Guide - Program
Topics: Environmental Studies - Service Learning - Source Reduction - Curriculum

Generation Earth presents an inspiring look at a wide variety of hands-on student environmental education and action programs in Americas high schools. The videos two college-age producers take you on a fast-paced journey as they search for successful programs in both rural and urban schools. The video and manual, divided into three main sections: On Campus, Off Campus and Educating Others, find students involved in a range of creative activities in their schools and communities. The Companion Manual outlines the projects and provides you with useful information like project-by-project contacts, curricula and other resources, fundraising ideas and state-by-state education contacts. The Companion Manual can stand alone.

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Geology of Minnesota - A Guide for Teachers | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Geology

This book was written to provide an up-to-date understanding of the geology of Minnesota for Earth Science teachers and others who have some background in geology.

Our goal is to summarize what geologists think today about how the rocks in Minnesota formed and their place in geologic history. We believe that if the Earth Science teachers of the state have a better understanding of the processes responsible for the major geologic phenomena, they will stimulate an interest in their students in that history and an appreciation of the varied natural surroundings.

Teachers can browse through it and decide if they would like a hard copy, or just use the scanned version.

Web Site: http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/lands_minerals/geologyhandbook.pdf
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Getting Started: A Guide to Bringing Environmental Education into your Classroom | National Consortium for Environmental Education and Training (NCEET)

Resource type: Guide - Book/Magazine - Higher Education - Curriculum
Topics: Curriculum - Education - Teaching

This publication was prepared in 1994 by the National Consortium for EE and Training (NCEET), led by the University of Michigan, in collaboration with the National EE and Training Foundation. It was developed to introduce teachers to EE and to suggest different approaches to bringing EE into their classroom. The publication discusses how to network with environmental educators and how to obtain financial support for EE programs. It includes examples of experiences teachers have had in bringing EE into their classrooms, and contains suggestions on where to look for instructional materials, workshops, courses, and in-service opportunities.

Web Site: http://eelink.umich.edu
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Green Building for Schools | Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance (OEA)

Resource type: Web Site - Resource Person - Guide
Topics: Sustainable Development - Energy - Air - Environmental Health

The OEA has pulled together a wide variety of wonderful resources and information on their easy-to-follow website. These resources on green building are intended to introduce school administrators, facilities staff, and teachers to the spectrum of sustainability possible within schools. The list includes general resources, teaching materials, and links to case studies.

Web Site: http://www.moea.state.mn.us/ee/greenschools.cfm
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Green Careers Resource Guide | Jim Cassio

Resource type: Guide - Web Site
Topics: Sustainability

Download the free Green Careers Resource Guide - designed to assist career development professionals, but also of use to self-directed students, career explorers, job seekers, and career changers. This downloadable guide was originally developed by Jim Cassio for attendees of the 2007 International Career Development Conference, and in response to positive feedback, Cassio has made it publicly available.

Web Site: http://www.cassio.com
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Green Meeting Guide | National Recycling Coalition (NRC)

Resource type: Guide - Web Site
Topics: Environmentally Preferabl - Green Living - Waste Prevention - Stewardship

NRC's Green Meeting Guide is a great resource for the planning of events that incorporate recycling and other environmentally responsible practices in their foundation. The Green Meeting Guide has been recently updated with new tips and ideas of how to make event planning a greener experience.

Its contents include:
1. Printed Materials
2. Food & Beverage Functions
3. On-Site Facilities
4. Exhibit Hall & Exhibitors
5. Conference Hotels/Sleeping Rooms
6. Educating Attendees & Recycling Advisors
7. Evaluation of Recycling & Waste Prevention Efforts
8. Criteria for Future Site Selection
9. Additional Resources

NRC is a founding partner of the Convene Green Alliance, a grassroots organization of associations involved and concerned with lessening the environmental footprints of associations and the events they sponsor.

The Green Meeting Guide can now be found on the NRC website http://www.nrc-recycle.org/greenmeetingsp.aspx

Web Site: http://www.nrc-recycle.org/Data/Sites/1/nrcgreenmtgsguide.pdf
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Green Your School Guide | Earth Day Network (EDN)

Resource type: Guide - Web Site
Topics: Sustainability - Green Living - Curriculum - Environmentally Preferable Products

The ultimate toolkit to green your school! With over 300 pages of materials, Earth Day Network offers the Green Your School Guide website. With this new application, Earth Day Network's Education Department has collected the expertise and knowledge of hundreds of schools, teachers, students and administrators to provide teachers the ways and means to make their students' educational experience truly sustainable - from floor to roof, playground to school bus.

These extensive, brand-new documents provide the background research, teacher lesson plans and student action plans for dozens of different school greening possibilities.

http://www.earthday.net/greenyourschool

Web Site: http://www.earthday.net/greenyourschool
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Groundwater Treatment Unit: "The Groundwater Adventure" | Water Environment Federation

Resource type: Video - Guide - Learning Kit
Topics: Water - Pollution

The concept of groundwater is graphically explained using a
video game format. Students gain points by preventing
groundwater pollution from industrial, agricultural and
private sources. Students learn that preventing groundwater
pollution is something they need to do in their day-to-day
lives.

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Growing Together: Classroom Tree Seed Planting Program PreK-6 | Jennifer Judd Hinrichs

Resource type: Guide - Grant/Funding/Funding - Program
Topics: Forests - Education - Stewardship - Environmental Studies

The Growing Together Program (GTP) is an environmental education program of the National Tree Trust which provides funds and materials the growing trees from seeds in the classroom. The GTP grant application process is very simple and straightforward. Grant applicants must be non-profits and have a minimum of 100 students involved in the program. Application deadline is October 1, 1997. For information call: 1-800-846-8733

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Guide to Reducing Back Yard Burning and On-site Disposal | Mark Rust Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Pollution Prevention - Environmental Health - Waste Management - Hazardous Waste

The Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance (OEA) has developed this guide to assist Minnesota Counties, local units of government, and similar agencies in developing programs that reduce back yard burning and on-site disposal while at the same time, educate the general public. Whether household wastes are burned in a barrel, a fire pit, fireplace, or buried on-site, certain environmental and health-related risks become real concerns for those involved as well as the general public. This guide is structured to include discussion of four main topic areas:

1) Background: What are the issues that influence people to use burning or burying as a method of managing their garbage?

2) The Law: What are the Minnesota statutes that regulate backyard burning and on-site disposal of garbage and how do they influence people's decision to burn their household wastes

3) Existing programs designed to reduce the level of back yard burning and on-site disposal: What programs exist in Minnesota that have been successful in reducing burning or burying of household wastes? This section outlines several county programs in Minnesota.

4) Educational and informational tools: This section provides detail on the types of tools that are available for counties, cities, citizen groups, etc. to use in the development of back yard burning and on-site disposal reduction programs.

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Healthy School Environments Assessment Tool (HealthySEAT) | US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Resource type: Video - Guide
Topics: Environmental Health - Health - Recycling - Waste Management

EPA has developed a unique software tool to help school districts evaluate and manage their school facilities for key environmental, safety and health issues. [Note: EPA is using the term "district" to broadly describe any institutional system for managing multiple schools, whether they are public, private, tribal, charter or some variation.] The new Healthy School Environments Assessment Tool (HealthySEAT) is designed to be customized and used by district-level staff to conduct completely voluntary self-assessments of their school (and other) facilities and to track and manage information on environmental conditions school by school. In addition to powerful software that can be used by districts to track any facility issues it chooses, EPA has also included critical elements of all of its regulatory and voluntary programs for schools, as well as web links to more detailed information. Districts and others can download HealthySEAT at no cost from the EPA web site. HealthySEAT is meant to be loaded and used on district computers; once it is downloaded from the EPA web site, HealthySEAT is yours to customize and use as you see fit. There are no reporting requirements and no obligation to use the checklist EPA has provided.

More than 53 million children and about 6 million adults spend a significant portion of their days in more than 120,000 public and private school buildings. Many of these buildings are old and in poor condition, and may contain environmental conditions that inhibit learning and pose increased risks to the health of children and staff. The Schools web site is designed to provide one-stop access to the many programs and resources available to help prevent and resolve environmental issues in schools.

Healthy School Environment Web Resources
On-line resources to help facility managers, school administrators, architects, design engineers, school nurses, parents, teachers and staff address environmental health issues in schools. Visitors can browse resources by topic or by geographic area, or search all resources by entering specific keywords into the search box at the top of each page.

The HealthySEAT web site has been updated to incorporate two new pages containing news and information about who is using HealthySEAT as well as how you can receive recognition for your work with HealthySEAT.

Web Site: http://epa.gov/schools/healthyseat/index.html
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Healthy Sustainable Schools: Guide & Assessment Tool | Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA)

Resource type: Guide - Web Site
Topics: Sustainability - Conservation - Environmental Health - Energy

With a goal of helping Minnesota K-12 schools reduce operating costs, reduce environmental impacts and promote a healthy indoor/outdoor environment for students, the MPCA has produced a free on-line and printed resource that provides a:

Guide (65 p.) to the many physical/operational aspects of a school that can be changed.

Assessment Tool (60 p.) - a checklist - for walking through school buildings and documenting what needs to be done to make improvements.

Aimed at motivated parents and school officials committed to making improvements, the Guide helps advocates for change sell their recommendations by summarizing the many benefits of a healthier school, which include:

Enhanced student health and performance

Higher performing school buildings with reduced operating & maintenance costs

Reduced environmental impacts

Increased student attendance

Increased staff satisfaction

The Guide covers the following topics under the headings of Buildings & Operations, Reduce / Reuse / Recycle, Health & Wellness, and Toxicity Reduction:

Green building; energy and water conservation

Smart growth; building location / community adjacencies /size

Environmentally preferable purchasing; green cleaning

3R options; paper and food waste reduction; composting

Indoor air quality; integrated pest management

School bus emissions; mercury, lead, chemicals management

Nutrition

The Assessment Tool for Change includes these chapters:

Free Topic Experts and Resources

Getting Started

Establishing a Team

Building Awareness and Support (includes model policy statements)

School Assessment Forms

Final Tips

View and download the Guide and Assessment Tool at http://www.healthyschools.state.mn.us/, where you will also find school case studies. Three of these 5- to 8-page studies are from pilot projects that used and refined the Guide and Tool.

For those school leaders working on an improvement project, contact the MPCA's Linda Countryman (linda.countryman@state.mn.us; 651/215-0269) for a free printed copy of this resource and for additional assistance.

Web Site: http://www.healthyschools.state.mn.us/
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Healthy Water, Healthy People | MN Project WET Coordinator

Resource type: Guide - Course/Workshop - Curriculum
Topics: Water - Pollution - Pollution Prevention - Science

This 200-page activity guide is for educators of students in grades 6 through university level. The purpose of this Guide is to raise the awareness and understanding of water quality topics and issues and their relationship to personal, public, and environmental health. Healthy Water, Healthy People will help educators address science standards through interactive activities that interpret water quality concepts and promote diverse learning styles, with foundations in the scientific method. This Guide will contain 25 original activities that link priority water quality topics to real-life experiences of educators and students.

Web Site: http://mndnr.gov/projectwet
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Higher Education Directory | North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE)

Resource type: Guide - Web Site
Topics: Education

This online directory is a comprehensive resource to undergraduate and graduate environmental programs at higher education institutions in North America. The directory provides details about institutions, programs, departments, and faculty. Updates are continually being made.

The directory will help faculty network with each other, as well as provide direction to students seeking an institution that matches their interests in environmental courses and degree plans. The directory also supports NAAEE's work with the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).

Web Site: http://www.naaee.org/programs-and-initiatives/higher-education-directory
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Institute for Sustainable Resource Management Education | University of Minnesota--College of Natural Resources Minnesota Forest Resources Council

Resource type: Organization - Course/Workshop - Guide - Web Site
Topics: Eco-systems - Forests - Resource Management - Education

The Institute for Sustainable Resource Management Education,
based at the College of Natural Resources, U of MN/St. Paul,
sponsors continuing education opportunities for
natural resource professionals. Our mission is to promote
excellence in natural resource management through educational
opportunities which bring professionals together to explore
current research findings, new technologies, and state-of-
the-art practices.

The Institute grew out of the Minnesota Sustainable Forest
Resources Act of 1995, which recognizes continuing education
as an important component of the sustainable management, use,
and protection of the state's forest resources. The Institute
designs education programs based on the understanding that
resource management is part of an inter-dependant system--
social, economic, and ecological values must work together
to sustain healthy, productive ecosystems.

Web Site: http://www.frc.state.mn.us/collaborate/ISRME.html
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Interfaith Study Guide On Global Warming | The Interfaith Climate and Energy Campaign

Resource type: Guide - Curriculum - Web Site
Topics: Climatology - Energy - Earth

http://www.protectingcreation.org/

The Interfaith Climate and Energy Campaign, a coalition of American religious leaders, institutions and individuals, is an effort to educate people in faith communities on the causes and effects of global warming, and to encourage people and congregations to take actions to stop climate change. At its web site above the Campaign has available a free 26-page PDF course guide titled "The Cry of Creation: A Call for Climate Justice."

The guide contains three weeks' worth of readings and the structure and suggested questions for 3 meetings. The focus is on the religious and moral imperative to protect the natural world and all of the world's children. Included are powerful statements made by religious leaders and ecumenical bodies, including the Evangelical Environmental Network, the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, a prominent Buddhist monk, an Islamic scholar, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The topics for each meeting are as follows:
* Humility, Science, and Humanity's Place in Creation
* Do We Have the Energy? Religious Voices and Energy Policy
* Energy and Global Warming: What You Can Do

Web Site: http://www.protectingcreation.org/
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Journey to Clear the Air | American Lung Association

Resource type: Video - Guide
Topics: Air - Health - Environmental Health

Children solve environmental problems through an imaginative journey. They meet a house which is sick with pollution, and they rid the house of contaminants. Video is accompanied by a teacher/parent guide. Deals with indoor air quality and sick buildings.

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Kids for Saving Earth Worldwide | Tessa Hill, President

Resource type: Organization - Guide - Curriculum - Poster
Topics: Education - Environmental Sciences - Earth - Stewardship

The mission of Kids for Saving Earth Worldwide (KSE) is to
educate, inspire and empower children to protect the Earth's
environment. KSE Worldwide provides action-oriented educational
materials to individual kids, families, clubs, classrooms
and schools.

Before cancer tragically took his life at age 11, Clinton Hill
drew a poster and started a club he called Kids for Saving Earth.
Clint knew how much kids love the Earth and want to protect it. After Clint died, his mother and father established Kids for Saving Earth as a non-profit organization. Under the Hill's leadership, KSE grew from a single club to a worldwide organization with hundreds
of thousands of children doing good Earth works. In January 1994,
Clint's father, William, died of cancer. In July of the same year,
the KSE offices closed. Clint's Mom, Tessa Hill, did not work with KSE for one and a half years. Tessa in now the President of the newly incorporated Kids for Saving Earth Worldwide.

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Kids for Saving Earth Worldwide Membership | Tessa Hill, President

Resource type: Organization - Guide - Poster - Program
Topics: Earth - Eco-systems - Stewardship - Habitat

Join Kids for Saving Earth Worldwide. The amount of time you devote to Earth-saving activities through KSE Worldwide is up to you. You may choose to participate mostly in connection with Earth Day or you may incorporate KSE material into your curriculum. KSE Worldwide has several ways to join - as a Kid, as a Family, as a Club or as a school.

The mission of KSE Worldwide is to educate, inspire and empower children to protect the Earth's environment.

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Learning Design: Creating Effective Learning Programs for Sustainable Development | World Bank Institute (WBI)

Resource type: Web Site - Course/Workshop - Guide
Topics: Curriculum - Communications - Education

The World Bank Institute has created a resource for adult trainers and educators on Learning Design for Education in Development. This website is designed to help you meet the specific needs of adult learners within the development community around the world. The focus here is on blended learning - designing with the right mix of face-to-face, videoconference, and the Web - and on methods that are learner-centric, interactive, participatory, and action oriented. This site offers tools, materials, guidelines, templates, best practices, case studies, FAQs, and other key information that support and facilitate learning and knowledge sharing.

The direct link to this resource is:
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/WBI/0,,contentMDK:20156492~menuPK:654498~pagePK:209023~piPK:207535~theSitePK:213799,00.html

Web Site: http://www.worldbank.org/
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Let it Run . . . . . . and Get the Lead Out! | Minnesota Department of Health Public Water Supply Unit

Resource type: Poster - Guide
Topics: Water

This laminated poster contains tips for reducing exposure
to lead in drinking water and is designed to be posted in
schools, doctors' offices, and other places that serve
young people and other at-risk populations.

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Lungs Are For Life | American Lung Association

Resource type: Learning Kit - Poster - Guide
Topics: Health - Environmental Health - Environmental Health - Pollution

A comprehensive school health education program. Contains activities which integrate easily into art, arithmetic, science, and language arts curricula: with teacher's guide, posters, duplication masters for student activity sheets, and take home literature. Main concepts are self awareness, air pollution, the environment, the respiratory system, tobacco use, action, and commitment. Packaged in kits by grade level. Kindergarten through sixth grade, with at least six units per grade level. Sold in packets for each grade level for $15, or as a complete set for $75. (indoor air quality, radon, pollution)

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Maple-Basswood Forest | Lake Carlos Environmental Center

Resource type: Field Trip/Tour - Guide - Pamphlet - Booklet
Topics: Forests - Habitat - Eco-systems - Wildlife

Maple Basswood Forest is self-guided trail walk of 0.4 miles introducing hikers to a this rare and beautiful forest community. The trail winds through nearly 40 acres of mature forest. As you walk, numbered markers will correspond to the information in the guide, and will introduce you to this unique ecosystem. You will read about the management of the forest, about the natural history and the wildlife that dwells there. Many people find this a peaceful magical place. Along the trail there are circle shelters and benches for taking a moment of rest to enjoy your time in the Maple-Basswood Forest.

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Marine Science Careers: A Sea Grant Guide to Ocean Opportunities | University of New Hampshire Sea Grant

Resource type: Guide - Book/Magazine
Topics: Environmental Sciences - Science - Engineering - Water

This guide is designed for high school students interested
in the marine sciences. It describes the job possibilities and
probabilities in this field for today and the years to come.
The guide focuses on four major career areas: marine
biology, oceanography, ocean engineering and closely-related
fields--as well as careers that involve both the oceans and
the Great Lakes. It contains question-and-answer profiles
and photos of 38 marine scientists and other professionals
from around the country.

Web Site: http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/publications/S7
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Materials and the Environment: Wood as a Global Resource | J. Bowyer, K. Jacobson, S. Laursen

Resource type: Learning Kit - Video - Guide - Booklet
Topics: Forests - Business - Sustainable Development - Environmental Health

This teaching package is designed to help students and adults understand the environmental impacts of materials consumption and the role wood products can play in minimizing those impacts. Includes:
(1)A 15-minute videotape that explains the effects of population growth and consumption on the environment and presents informed perspectives on materials use.
(2)A Leader's Guide that provides an overview of the video, suggestions for group presentations, and a survey that can be photocopied and given to participants to help them identify their perceptions and misconceptions about materials use.
(3)A publication on forest landscapes.
(4)A publication on fire ecology.

Web Site: http://www.extension.umn.edu
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Merck Family Fund

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Natural Sciences - Environmental Health - Human Communities

The Merck Family Fund grant supports work by communities with few resources that are confronting significant social, economic, and environmental challenges. The Merck Family Fund was established in 1954 by George W. Merck, President of Merck & Co. He created the fund for two principal reasons: to do good with the resources acquired through the company's success, and to create an opportunity to regularly bring family members together.

Merck Family Fund Goals

To restore and protect the natural environment and ensure a healthy planet for generations to come.

To strengthen the social fabric and the physical landscape of the urban community.

For the complete list of grant guidelines visit http://www.merckff.org/grantguidelines.html

Deadlines: Twice a year in May and November

Web Site: http://www.merckff.org
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Mercury and the Healthcare Professional | Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance

Resource type: Video - Guide
Topics: Pollution Prevention - Waste Management - Health

Mercury finds wide application in equipment and supplies used in the healthcare industry. This 17-minute video informs healthcare professionals about the sources of mercury in hospitals and clinics and encourages them to use mercury-free alternatives. The video also outlines the proper management procedures for mercury-containing products. The manual, Mercury Use in Hospitals and Clinics, accompanies the video and provides more detail about sources and management options.

An acompanying manual entitled, Mercury Use in Hospitals and Clinics, is also available from the OEA. Another excellent reference is the "Hospitals for a Healthy Environment" website (www.h2e-online.org).

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Minnesota EE Research: Search 15 years of Master's and Doctoral Research | Boulder Lake Environmental Learning Center

Resource type: Web Site - Higher Education - Resource Person - Guide
Topics: Research - Environmental Studies - Education - Human Communities

Graduate research in environmental education is an excellent, generally unpublished resource. This online database lists Master's and Doctoral research from the past 15 years, collected from Minnesota colleges and universities. The administration of this section of SEEK is an ongoing cooperative effort with the Center for Environmental Education (University of Minnesota-Duluth).

Educators may access this research by selecting key words, title, author, institution, Library of Congress subheadings, and more at http://www.seek.state.mn.us/eeresearch/index.cfm.

SEEK's EE Research section was developed by grant funds from the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance, Boulder Lake Environmental Learning Center, U.S. EPA Region 5 Environmental Education Program, and Center for Environmental Education (University of Minnesota-Duluth).

Web Site: http://www.seek.state.mn.us/eeresearch/
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Minnesota Groundwater Information Guide | Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Resource type: Guide - Web Site
Topics: Water - Geography - Hazardous Waste

The purpose of this guide is to make it easier for you to find Minnesota groundwater information and expertise including groundwater data, maps, reports, government programs, regulations, recommended methodologies and more. Previously, there was no central access point for these resources. This project attempts to provide a user-friendly Internet gateway, or portal, to the information and expertise. This site provides a "one-stop-shopping" interface for Minnesota Groundwater Information.

How the Guide Can Help You

Responsibilities for Minnesota's groundwater reside with numerous organizations according to laws, practical considerations and other factors. Therefore, groundwater data, maps, reports, project files, regulatory contacts and technical experts are distributed among numerous organizations. This can pose a challenge for people seeking groundwater information or expertise. This project endeavors to help Minnesotans by researching, organizing and listing these resources with their web site addresses and telephone numbers so web site visitors will not all have to repeat the work individually.

The Minnesota Geological Survey (MGS) (http://www.geo.umn.edu/mgs/gwig/) and the Minnesota Ground Water Association (MGWA) (http://www.mgwa.org/gwig/) host this guide on their web sites to serve the mutual interests of all those interested in Minnesota groundwater.

Web Site: http://www.geo.umn.edu/mgs/gwig/
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Minnesota Historical Society

Resource type: Field Trip/Tour - Guide
Topics: Rivers - History

The Minnesota Historical Society works with a number of communities and counties along the Mississippi to bring educational programs to the public. The Minneapolis RiverCity Trolley run between the Minneapolis Convention Center, downtown, the Walker Art Center, and the riverfront every twenty minutes with a one hour narrated tour. Call (612) 330-7981 for info. The Minnesota Historical Society guides also provide tours of the historical hydroelectric facilities on Hennepin Island operated by NSP. Call (612) 330-7981 for info. The Historical Society also has maps, books, and other classroom materials available that discuss the geography and Native American settlements on the river, and more are being developed, call (612) 627-5433 to order.

Web Site: http://www.mnhs.org/
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Minnesota Lake Ecology curriculum | Minnesota Lakes Association

Resource type: Curriculum - Guide
Topics: Lake - Water - Wetlands - Pollution

The Minnesota Lake Ecology curriculum is a four to six week study unit for middle school students that encourages a responsible stewardship ethic among the students that will enable them to make wise resource management decisionstoday and in the futureto protect Minnesotas lakes. The Lake Ecology curriculum includes units on water properties, water cycle, food chain, watersheds, pollution, water quality testing, classifying lakes, student experiments and projects. In 2004, over 1,500 5th - 8th graders learned important skills that will help them become Minnesotas lake stewards of tomorrow. If you are interested or would like more information, please contact: Keri Hull; Membership Coordinator/Program Assistant; Minnesota Lakes Association; 19519 Hwy 371 N; Brainerd, MN 56401; 800-515-5253; keri@mnlakes.org

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Minnesota Stormwater Manual

Resource type: Guide - Book/Magazine - Web Site
Topics: Water

The Minnesota Stormwater Steering Committee is proud to present the Minnesota Stormwater Manual. As a group of public and private stakeholders, the Stormwater Steering Committee is charged to inform, advise and coordinate stormwater management efforts across the state. One of the key efforts of this group was to write and maintain a comprehensive stormwater-management manual that specifically addresses Minnesota stormwater issues.

The Minnesota Stormwater Manual is a valuable tool for stormwater managers; it helps professionals and newcomers manage stormwater in a way that conserves, enhances, and restores high-quality water in our lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands, and groundwater, ensuring a high quality of life for all Minnesotans.

The manual is a dynamic document. User comments will guide the Stormwater Steering Committee's twice-yearly revisions. Major revisions will take place every two years. In either case, the most recent version will be posted on the web page. Be sure to check version numbers on printed or downloaded chapters against those below to insure that you're working with the most recent version. Minnesota Stormwater Manual users who register their e-mail address on site will be kept informed of updates to the manual.

Users are encouraged to use the electronic version of the Minnesota Stormwater Manual. If you're interested in a paper copy of the Minnesota Stormwater Manual, please send a request from the web site. We're sorry, but no printing of the Manual is currently planned and no printing would occur unless there is sufficient demand to justify it.

Web Site: http://www.pca.state.mn.us/water/stormwater/stormwater-manual.html
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Minnesota Waste Wise | Staff

Resource type: Web Site - Guide - Research - Resource Person
Topics: Waste Prevention - Waste Management - Recycling - Business

Minnesota Waste Wise (MWW) is a private, nonprofit, member-supported program that helps Minnesota businesses reduce waste and save money. MWW is a 501(c) 3 organization, affiliated with the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce.

MWW provides educational resources on waste reduction and recycling to the Minnesota business community. In addition, MWW performs on-site waste assessments, helping businesses discover new ways to reduce waste and save money. This annual service is free to all members and is a great way to start or enhance a waste reduction program. Every year, MWW members divert more than 700 million pounds of waste from landfills and save an estimated $2.5 million in waste associated costs.

MWW also manages the "It's in the Bag" program, a Twin-Cities based plastic bag recycling program. The "It's in the Bag" program is a collaborative effort of both public and private industry. Consumers may deposit clean, dry, empty plastic bags in specially-designed "It's in the Bag" collection bins found at collection points throughout the metropolitan area.

Web Site: www.mnwastewise.org
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Minnesota's Consumer Handbook to Reducing Waste | Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance

Resource type: Book/Magazine - Guide
Topics: Source Reduction - Waste Prevention - Recycling

This handy booklet is easy to understand and use. With its easy to follow suggestions for reducing waste, you are able to implement the actions immediately without great sacrifice or effort. "Reduce, reuse, recycle, and respond" is its theme.

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Mississippi Waters | Mississippi Headwaters Board

Resource type: Video - Book/Magazine - Guide
Topics: Rivers - Environmental Studies - History - Geology

Mississippi Waters is a 30-minute video survey (with accompanying Study Guide) of the nature, geology and culture of the Mississippi Headwaters. The story is told through scenic footage of wildlife and the river, and historic art, photographs and drawings, Ojibwe storytelling and music. It introduces the different concepts of land ownership of white and native cultures and makes the case for continuing stewardship of the lands and waters of the Mississippi River. Produced by the Mississippi Headwaters Board in 1991, the video is only available through your local or regional library system. Copies of the Study Guide are available from the Mississippi Headwaters Board, however, they do not contain lesson plans or curriculum materials.

Web Site: www.mhbriverwatch.dst.mn.us
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Mister Rogers' Neighborhood #1617: The Environment and Recycling | Family Communications, Inc.

Resource type: Video - Guide
Topics: Recycling - Waste Management - Pollution

Mister Rogers and friends teach the children about garbage: how to reduce, reuse, and recycle it. They also sort their recyclables and take them to a recycling center. A Teacher's Guide filled with discussion questions, activities, and additional resources is also available. Primarily for preK- first grade. Available for loan.

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Mussel Manance! Zebra Mussels and You | Michigan Sea Grant Publications

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Rivers - Exotic Species

Instructor Packet that focuses on problems caused by zebra mussels

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Natural Wonders: A guide to early childhood for environmental educators | Minnesota Early Childhood Environmental Education Consortium with funding from the Minnesota Office of Environmental Ass

Resource type: Guide - Book/Magazine
Topics: Education - Teaching

Available Free Online:
http://www.seek.state.mn.us/classrm_e.cfm

Environmental education organizations and other informal education venues have recently recognized the need to provide specialized programming for infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their families. Likewise, record numbers of parents, daycare providers and early childhood educators have begun seeking out nature centers, zoos and museums as places to help their not-yet school-aged children learn, grow and develop an appreciation of and love for nature. On the surface, it's a match made in heaven. However, unlike teachers in the formal school system who specialize in certain age groups, informal educators have to be ready and able to provide dynamic, interesting, relevant and appropriate programs for all ages—from preschool to senior citizens—often at a moment's notice.

While this kind of versatility is necessary, it can lead to one-size-fits-all programming that leaves preschoolers behind. But the more we learn about the brain and how experience affects growth and development, the more we see the need to specialize our approach to educating young children. Thanks to educators and researchers like Rousseau, Piaget, Froebel and Montessori, we've known for decades that children are not just smaller versions of adults, nor are preschoolers smaller versions of school-aged children. From years of research and practice, we know that very young children—infants, toddlers and preschoolers—are fundamentally different than older children and need to be taught in fundamentally different ways.

Since the late 1980s, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has led the way in defining what those ways are. This information has been available to early childhood educators for years, but has not been translated for use in environmental educational settings—until now.

This guide was written especially for naturalists and environmental educators interested in learning more about how and why young children think and act and how they can use this information to design developmentally appropriate programs and activities. However, it is not intended to be a recipe book. You won't find a prescribed method for teaching about maple syruping or pond study. Although we do provide guidelines on what makes a program or activity developmentally appropriate, we recognize that everyone's situation is different and allow for as much flexibility as possible.

How to use this guide
The sections of this guide become progressively more practical and specific—from understanding the basics of how young children think, to evaluating the developmental appropriateness of programs, and everything in between. Each section contains specific topics that explain in greater detail the elements of child development and what it means to facilitate young children's learning.

At the end of each topic, a chart is provided detailing information and examples of most appropriate, somewhat appropriate or least appropriate practices associated with those topics.
We have provided this chart as a gauge educators can use to identify where their teaching methods currently are on the developmentally appropriate continuum and what they can change about their methods to make them more developmentally appropriate. No one is developmentally appropriate 100 percent of the time. But if you challenge yourself to keep progressing along the continuum, you'll find it becomes easier and more rewarding for you and the children.

Practicing developmentally appropriate education is a constant and evolving process. Even veteran early childhood educators must evaluate their practices on a regular basis and adapt them to changing situations and children. The best way to evaluate your programs for developmental appropriateness is by being an active learner yourself: experiment, explore, seek questions and answers, test theories and invent new ways of approaching learning. And don't forget to have fun!

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Nature Clubs for Families Tool Kit: Do It Yourself! Do It Now! | Children & Nature Network (C&NN)

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Outdoor Recreation - Green Living

The Children & Nature Network (C&NN) pubishes Nature Clubs for Families Tool Kit: Do It Yourself! Do It Now! to provide inspiration, information, tips and resources for those who are-or who might be-interested in creating a Nature Club for Families. In creating the Tool Kit, we've drawn on what many other families have done and learned. We also encourage you to develop and use your own ideas.

Families are discovering that having fun outdoors doesn't require waiting for a special event or program. Instead, they are taking the initiative and creating their own local nature clubs for families. These clubs go by different names and take slightly different forms, but they all offer accessible, easy, low- (or no-) cost fun, family-oriented activities outdoors.

The good news is that there are lots of ways to connect with nature-and to create lifestyles in which frequent experience in the natural world is a fundamental part of children's lives. The Children & Nature Network (C&NN) has drawn on the best available research, common sense, and parents' direct experiences to develop this C&NN Nature Clubs for Families Tool Kit: Do It Yourself! Do It Now! We hope it inspires you to get your own family and friends outdoors for many happy, healthy adventures together.

Web Site: http://www.childrenandnature.org/pdfs/NCFF_toolkit.pdf
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Newton's Apple - Teacher's Guide and Activity on Garbage | Twin Cities Public Television (TPT)

Resource type: Web Site - Guide
Topics: Waste Management - Recycling - Compost

This is an activity guide for teachers on garbage. It includes an topical overview, activity for students, vocabulary words, and additional resources.

More than 60 percent of municipal solid waste is recyclable, yet only about 13 percent of it gets recycled. Why isn't more recycled and how can we improve this situation?

It's hard to imagine scientists having much to do with garbage. But as the solid waste crisis grows, simple garbage disposal will require some high-tech solutions. Over the last 50 years new synthetic materials have been introduced into the waste stream, complicating the problem. These materials are not biodegradable and some produce toxic residue. This has led to tighter environmental controls on landfills. So how much garbage do Americans really throw away and what can we do to help this problem? An activity for classroom use is also included showing how much waste a family goes through in month and what they throw away.

NEWTON'S APPLE is a production of Twin Cities Public Television and is made possible by a grant from the 3M Foundation.

Web Site: http://www.newtonsapple.tv/TeacherGuide.php?id=1163
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Nonpoint Source (NPS) Outreach Toolbox | U. S. Environmental Protection Agency

Resource type: Web Site - Guide - Learning Kit
Topics: Water - Pollution Prevention - Communications

The U.S. EPA has released the Nonpoint Source Outreach Toolbox, a set of Web-based resources designed to assist communities conduct locally effective watershed education and outreach activities. The Toolbox, online at www.epa.gov/nps/toolbox includes a searchable catalog of nearly 800 print, radio, and TV ads and outreach materials in the following categories: lawn and garden care, motor vehicle care, pet care, septic system care, household chemicals and waste, and general stormwater and storm drain awareness. This is designed to meet the needs of organizations who might be strapped for ideas, money, time, or staff. The Toolbox also includes EPA's publication "Getting in Step -- A Guide to Conducting Watershed Outreach Campaigns," as well as a comprehensive collection of surveys and evaluations of outreach programs from around the country and a collection of logos, slogans, and mascots to help unify a commmunity's campaign. www.epa.gov/nps/toolbox

Web Site: www.epa.gov/nps/toolbox
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Ollie Saves the Planet CD Rom and Website Program | Ollie USA, Inc.

Resource type: Web Site - Software - Guide
Topics: Air - Recycling - Water - Energy

The Ollie Saves the Planet CD ROM and Website Program is an industry-led interactive environmental education initiative that encourages children, their parents, teachers, and community groups to appreciate their connection to the natural world and to understand their "ecological footprint."

The Ollie Saves the Planet Program introduces the concept of sustainability and asks users to reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink their actions in the areas of waste, water, energy, air and biodiversity. It does this within the context of local conditions and local educational guidelines. (Ollie fits with several dozen science standards for grades one through eight in the State of Minnesota.)

Educators, industry representatives and experts in multimedia in Australia and America developed the Ollie Program, utilizing the latest in interactive technology to create a learning tool for children between the ages of 5 - 13 years that is exciting, challenging and up-to-date with environmental information. RAM assisted in the content development for the U.S. version.

You can sample some of the content from Ollie Saves the Planet. Ollie takes you through introductory information about sustainability, recycling, and other issues, then use interactive activities to reinforce the information. At the advanced level, Ollie allows children to carry out their own community projects, such as performing a recycling or biodiversity audit, or publishing their own web site to illustrate their activities.

Ollie even has his own rap song to help get you started!

The Recycling Association of Minnesota (RAM) is working with Ollie USA, Inc. to help distribute Ollie Saves the Planet in the U.S. RAM can also provide training for schools on how to use Ollie in the classroom. In Australia, students and teachers used Ollie as a basis for creating a sustainable school! Check out information about successful educator training.

The made for USA Ollie Saves the Planet CD ROM is ready for distribution in the USA and can be purchased from RAM's secure online shop.

Web Site: http://www.recycleminnesota.org/htm/ollie.htm
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One Bird Two Worlds | Jan Welsh

Resource type: Curriculum - Course/Workshop - Guide - Teacher Training
Topics: Wildlife - Geography - Curriculum - Phenology (seasons)

One Bird Two Worlds, a new Minnesota-based science curriculum*, is designed for use with the 5th grade to 8th grade as a yearlong science theme or tailored to an 8 week concentrated unit.
Your students study of neotropical migratory birds and the two worlds they inhabit will give flight to an understanding of how our local actions and decisions have a global impact.
The curriculum focus of birds, forest, and people is woven together with a travel scheme, by our ambassador bird the Baltimore Oriole, by our sister state Costa Rica, and by our common ecosystem, forests.
Students use their travel passport to fly with Minnesota's neotropical migratory birds to Costa Rica and back. Along the route students journal their flight path through migration challenges and mysteries, forest habitats, scientific inquiry, a research project of their own, and apply what they have learned to solve global needs of people and wildlife in real-life situations.
*Adapted with permission from Wisconsin DNR's One Bird Two Habitats

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People and the Planet | Zero Population Growth

Resource type: Curriculum - Guide - Book/Magazine
Topics: Bio-Diversity - Population - Sustainable Development - Global Studies

People and the Planet: Lessons for a Sustainable Future is a curriculum guide for grades 6 - 9. An interdisciplinary, environmental education and global studies guide in one, People and the Planet covers concepts and objectives central to science, social studies, math, and family life education.

Through 30 hands-on (and minds-on) activities and four readings, students explore the interconnections of human population growth, natural resource use, solid waste management, biodiversity, social justice, and community well being.

Web Site: http://www.zpg.org
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Plants for Stormwater Design | Daniel Shaw and Rusty Schmidt

Resource type: Web Site - Guide
Topics: Water - Pollution Prevention - Botany - Landscape

Urban landscape designers, installation practitioners, and stormwater managers will find this a useful resource. Understanding plant species susceptibility to water-level fluctuations and landscape pollutants will enable better stormwater detention treatment and aesthetically pleasing systems.

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency staff worked with the authors, Daniel Shaw and Rusty Schmidt, to produce this valuable reference. The goal is to improve stormwater treatment and management practices by using native plants.

Manual Has Many Useful Features
One hundred thirty-one plant species are described regarding their use in stormwater-management practices, including habitat and range; light exposure needs; normal water level; flooding/fluctuation tolerances; general pollution sensitivities and tolerances; design considerations; wildlife use; nursery stock and seed availability; recommended planting techniques; and a photograph.

A hydrograph is included for each species, showing the typical depth and duration of inundation that species can tolerate. Species recommendations are provided also for several stormwater best management practices, including dry detention basins or swales; rainwater gardens and similar infiltration basins; stormwater wetlands; wet swales; and filtration strips.

Information/Assistance
Visit the Stormwater Program Web page for additional resources or questions about stormwater regulations. If you have questions about the manual, contact Mark Gernes at 651-297-3363.

Web Site: http://www.pca.state.mn.us/publications/manuals/stormwaterplants.html
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Plantworks: a natural history book. | Karen Shanberg and Stan Tekiela

Resource type: Guide - Curriculum
Topics: Food Chain - General Ecology

Plantworks is a field guide to 14 wild edible plants (found
almost everywhere in the U.S.), a cookbook with over 50
recipes and an activity guide with many ideas for doing
crafts and games that help to teach about the plant's identification.
If you have ever taught or wanted to teach about how delicious and
nutritious some of the 'weeds' are in the local area, this
is the resource you should have nearby. Not only will your students
learn proper identification and have fun while doing the
cooking, they will appreciate the plants that are often
sprayed with toxic chemicals and perhaps start to bring that
detrimental practice to a halt.

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Pollution prevention in schools | Michigan State Board of Education

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Waste Prevention - Waste Management - Air - Energy

Deals with solid waste, hazardous chemicals, hazardous waste, pesticide, air quality, energy conservation, education, assessment and audits.

Web Site: http://www.mntap.umn.edu
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Precious Waters | Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness

Resource type: Video - Web Site - Guide
Topics: Conservation - Mining

This film takes a hard look at the sulfide mining industry's history of failed predictions, toxic pollution, and the threats new mines pose to northeastern Minnesota's lakes, rivers and streams and sustainable economy, as told through the voices of citizens, scientists and advocates.

www.preciouswaters.org

Web Site: www.preciouswaters.org
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Project Learning Tree | Minnesota DNR Division of Forestry

Resource type: Program - Curriculum - Teacher Training - Guide
Topics: Curriculum - Resource Management - Forests/Trees - Teaching

PLT is a national environmental education program sponsored in Minnesota by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. PLT consists of a suite of curricula, a series of teacher education workshops, a web site (http://www.mndnr.gov/plt), and a state coordinator.

All activities in the curriculum guides are interdisciplinary, hands-on, and correlated to Minnesota Academic Standards. Activity Guides available from Minnesota PLT include: the PreK-8 Activity guide (96 activities), the Minnesota Early Childhood Supplement to PLT (11 activities), and seven modules for grades 9-12: Places We Live, Focus on Forests, Forest Ecology, Municipal Solid Waste, Places We Live, Risk, Biodiversity, and Forests of the World. Descriptions of the curricula are listed on www.mndnr.gov/plt.

The national PLT web site (www.plt.org) contains additional resources for specific activities such as connections to "Earth and Sky" radio shows, literature lists, powerpoints, and other items.

To get a curriculum guide, one must attend an educator workshop. Educator worskhops are offered throughout the state. Participants receive continuing education units and/or graduate credit (by request only).

A current workshop calendar is listed on SEEK calendar: http://www.seek.state.mn.us/calendar.cfm and also on www.mndnr.gov/plt

Graduation Standards: Most PLT activities are correlated to the Minnesota Academic Standards in science, social studies, language arts, and mathematics. Correlations are listed on http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/plt and http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/education/teachers/edstandards_intro.html

Web Site: http://www.mndnr.gov/plt
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Project WET | MN Project WET Coordinator

Resource type: Guide - Course/Workshop - Curriculum - Teacher Training
Topics: Education - Environmental Sciences - Water - Teaching

Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) is an international, interdisciplinary, water science and education program for formal and non-formal educators of K-12 students. Educators can obtain the basic K-12 activity guide focused on all aspects of water or other guides focused on wetlands (Wonders of Wetlands,) water conservation (Conserve Water,) water quality (Healthy Water Healthy People,) and cultural attitudes toward water (Native Waters.) The guides are available through workshops that are offered throughout the state.

Graduation Standards: Correlated to MN's science, math, language arts and social studies academic standards. Searchable database available at: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/education/teachers/edstandards_intro.html

Web Site: http://mndnr.gov/projectwet
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Public Land and Mineral Ownership: A Guide for Teachers | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Division of Lands and Minerals, Transactions Section

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Land - Minerals - History - Geography

This guide is recommended as a resource to supplement discussions on Minnesota's history, government and geography. It is intended for high school teachers and other people interested in public land history and management. The subject areas covered by the publication are:
Origins of Federal Ownership
Public Land Survey
Federal Land Grants
Federal and State Acquisitions of Land, and
Mineral Rights.

There is also a section titled "Suggested Discussion or Research Topic," which identifies stories or topics for discussion in the classroom or for further research by students.

A single free copy is available upon request. This document is now available in pdf format. Teachers can browse through it and decide if they would like a hard copy, or just use the online copy.

Web Site: http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/lands_minerals/PLteachersguide.pdf
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Purple Loosestrife WATCH Identification Card | Michigan Sea Grant

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Exotic Species

This wallet-sized identification card has a photo of purple loosestrife (an exotic plant) on it and tells people what to do if they find it.

Web Site: http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/publications/x69
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Rare Species Guide | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Resource type: Guide - Web Site
Topics: Conservation - Bio-Diversity - Wildlife - Resource Management

The Rare Species Guide (www.mndnr.gov/rsg) is an online reference tool, which was published in January 2009 by the Minnesota DNR's Division of Ecological Resources.

The Rare Species Guide is the state's authoritative source of information about Minnesota's endangered, threatened, and special concern plant and animal species, and includes:

Taxonomic information

State and federal status designations

Minnesota and North American range maps

Color photographs and/or illustrations

Why the species is listed

Descriptive, habitat, and life history information

Conservation/management issues and recommendations

Conservation efforts in Minnesota

Bibliographic references

Life form, longevity, leaf duration, water regime, soil and light requirements, and phenology for all vascular plants

The interactive guide allows users to search for species profiles based on common or scientific name; state and federal endangerment status; broad taxonomic group (such as mammals or birds); habitat; location (including counties, watersheds, and ecological classification system subsections); and/or keyword. In addition to the species profiles, the Rare Species Guide also includes information on Minnesota's endangered species law and permits, why species become rare, and much more.

This Guide replaces and expands upon the 1988 DNR book, "Minnesota's Endangered Flora and Fauna."

The Rare Species Guide is available at no cost online at www.mndnr.gov/rsg.

Web Site: http://www.mndnr.gov/rsg
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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Activities for All Ages | Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Waste Prevention - Source Reduction - Recycling - Waste Management

Reduce, reuse, recycle is the theme of this activity book which contains a compilation of activities from different sources. This array of activities may be used by any age group, though most of the activities are geared toward a 5th grade audience. The activities range from skits to arts and crafts to word games.

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Resources for Starting An Environmental Club At School | E! The Environmental Magazine

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Environmental Sciences

Starting an environmental club at school is a great way to get students energized about taking care of the Earth and helping their community while learning about some of the most important issues facing the world in the 21st century.

EarthTeam, a non-profit environmental network for teens, teachers and youth leaders, offers many tips on how to start an environmental club. First and foremost is to make sure there are at least a half dozen or so other students interested in forming such a club to begin with, and then also finding a teacher, community leader or parent who is willing to serve as an adult sponsor. The sponsor's role is to provide advice along the way and to help ensure the stability of the group from year-to-year given that all of the students, even the founders of the club, will eventually graduate, or move on to other interests or endeavors.

Once the core membership and adult sponsor have been established, EarthTeam suggests all sitting down together to decide on the club's vision ("Why are we here?") and to brainstorm about possible activities or projects to undertake ("What do we want to accomplish?"). Once these questions have been answered, it's time to hold the club's first official meeting, which should be advertised as widely as possible to other students who may be interested in finding out what the group is about and how they can get involved, too.

The next step, according to EarthTeam, is to forge an action plan that focuses on one group-oriented, year-long project that has measurable benefits to the school or community and that can keep the interest of the student members-who will no doubt be spending long hours volunteering. Whatever project(s) the group decides on, members should develop a timeline that clearly lists goals, dates and responsibilities.

In addition to undertaking the one major project, clubs can also host or sponsor special events for extra visibility. EarthTeam suggests getting students outside for a river or beach clean-up, a tree planting day, or a field trip to a local wetland, zoo or nature reserve. Another popular idea is to hold an Environmental Awareness Day to educate the entire student body about relevant green issues.

EarthTeam is also a networking platform so clubs can work together and share experiences with each other to help get a sense of the bigger picture beyond one individual school's locale, given the global nature of most environmental issues. Another great networking resource is the Greenspan website, which lists clubs in 21 different U.S. states as well as in Australia, Canada, Japan, Ghana and Malaysia.

Another great resource for those starting up new or managing existing school environmental clubs is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Student Center website, which offers dozens of ideas for projects that both stimulate and enlighten participants while helping the local community. The website also provides links to several partner non-profit groups with club-worthy activities.

CONTACTS:
EarthTeam: http://www.earthteam.net/
Greenspan Environmental Club Network: http://www.greenspanworld.org/environmental_club_network.htm
U.S. EPA Student Center: http://www.epa.gov/students/

Web Site: http://www.emagazine.com/view/?4462
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Restoring the Big River: A Clean Water Action Blueprint for the Mississippi | Natural Resources Defense Council

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Rivers

Action projects for the Mississippi River.

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River Keepers

Resource type: Guide - Program
Topics: Rivers - Pollution Prevention - Service Learning

The River Keepers group is a private non-profit group that was formed to coordinate improvements of and along the Red River in the Fargo, ND - Moorhead, MN area. They offer several environmental service learning opportunities including an Adopt-the-Red (like Adopt-a-River) program, and a Paint the Drain program which is focused on getting local groups and students to stencil storm sewers to prevent people from dumping hazardous waste down them. They provide the equipment and the training for both programs. River Keepers also had historical and recreational guides for the Red River in the Fargo-Moorhead area.

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River Network |

Resource type: Organization - Resource Person - Guide
Topics: Rivers - Communications

River Network's mission is to help people organize to protect and restore rivers and watersheds. They support river and watershed advocates at the local, state, and regional levels, help them build effective organizations, and promote our working together to build a nationwide movement for rivers and watersheds. River Network also acquires and conserves riverlands that are critical to the services that rivers perform for human communities: drinking water supply, floodplain management, fish and wildlife habitat, recreation, and open space. They offer numerous resources on educating the general public about watersheds and rivers, they offer a guide on water testing as well.

Web Site: http://www.rivernetwork.org/~rivernet
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Round Goby WATCH Identification Card | Minnesota Sea Grant

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Exotic Species - Environmental Sciences - Fish

The Round Goby WATCH card is a wallet-sized identification card that has a color photo of the round goby and provides information on what to do if you find one. Currently, round gobies are only found in the Great Lakes. The cards are ideal for individuals or groups who want to be informed and help slow the spread of exotic species.

Web Site: http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/publications/X36
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Ruffe WATCH Identification Card | Minnesota Sea Grant

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Exotic Species - Environmental Sciences - Fish

The Eurasian Ruffe WATCH card is a wallet-sized identification card that has a color photo of Eurasian ruffe (an exotic fish) and provides information on what to do if you find one. Currently, ruffe are only found in lakes Superior and Huron. The cards are ideal for individuals and groups who want to be informed and help slow the spread of exotic species.

Web Site: http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/publications/x13
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Saving Water, The Conservation Unit | Water Environment Federation

Resource type: Video - Guide - Learning Kit
Topics: Water - Pollution Prevention

Imagine a visit to a museum in the future. Dino Sorrus,
the museum's curator, explains that all the earth's water
except for one small vial, has been wasted or polluted.
Students get to see what might happen, unless they act
today to preserve our water supply.

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School Presentation Tips for Engineers and Scientists | Virginia Department of Environmental Quality

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Education

Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
Environmental Education

If you haven't had a lot of experience speaking to school age children, here are some helpful hints. Science education has changed a lot since the days of the "Sage on the Stage" style lectures. Today's best-learned lessons are interactive and hands-on in nature. The following suggestions are based on tried
and true techniques for presenting a valuable, enriching experience to school age children.

1. Select an activity based on the students' needs and abilities.

Check with the teacher about the current unit to see if you can gear your presentation to it.

Get familiar with the academic standards, which can be found on the Commonwealth of Knowledge website at www.knowledge.state.va.us.

Choose a great activity. Copies of hands-on lesson plans can be found on the Commonwealth of Knowledge site or in DEQ's Pollution Solutions guide, at www.deq.state.va.us/education. Other lessons are available from the education staff. Local nature centers and museums may also be able to provide teaching materials, activity kits, or live animals. Or, check www.VaNaturally.com.

Plan an attention grabber. Do a demonstration of some kind or show a tool of your profession. When possible, plan to let students handle models, equipment, samples, maps, or other manipulatives during your activity.

2. Organize your materials and notes ahead of time to minimize lag time. (Kids can be so impatient!) Do a test run of experiments, demonstrations or other activities you are planning and make sure you have enough copies of handout materials.

3. Use interactive, hands-on techniques to engage the students. Stimulate thinking by asking questions: ask them to make predictions, state their opinions, or draw a conclusion. Physically involve the students through active participation, thinking and doing -- the process of science. You can help students build their science processing skills -- observing, identifying, classifying, measuring, and predicting. These skills are listed as ".1" in each grade level of Virginia's Science Standards of Learning.

4. Use age appropriate words and avoid jargon. Try to define words children may not know by relating them to concrete everyday examples they can understand. You might ask the teacher if the students are familiar with key words or concepts, or consider giving the teacher a few vocabulary words ahead of time.

5. Challenge the students to use and share what they have learned to help the environment. Leave more than a memory when you go. Give the students a way to share their new or improved understanding and provide suggestion for further investigations. This may be as simple as something they have made during the activity that they can be encouraged to show and tell others about. Other examples include a worksheet, or an assignment to complete as a follow-up with indication of where they can find more information. For older students, consider the DEQ brochure 25 Ways to Help Virginia's Environment as well as letting them know how they might contact you. Suggest they log on to www.VaNaturally.com where they can learn about volunteer stewardship opportunities.

Teaching Tips

Make eye contact with the students because kids love the personal attention.

Smile and feel comfortable telling amusing anecdotes because kids love a good laugh.

Use student volunteers to help you set up and distribute materials, samples, pictures, and handouts because kids love to feel important.

Require that students raise their hands to participate to avoid having them all talking at once.

Call on many different members of the class because no one wants to be left out.

Give specific directions when distributing specimens because kids sometimes disagree about who has been holding an object the longest.

Use a prearranged signal to get students' attention during activities (clapping, flipping light switch, etc.) because it is too hard to give good directions unless students are quiet.

Stop and wait for students to let you continue speaking if they get noisy because they have probably heard the "cold silence" before and know that it means they need to be less noisy.

Wait to give handouts to students until it is time to read or use them because if the students have the handouts while you are speaking they will be distracted.

Wait several seconds before calling on students to answer a question because the whole class needs time to think about the question before someone answers it.

Praise attentive or helpful behavior because this is the behavior you want to encourage.

Model good safety practices because kids learn by following role models.

Enjoy the students, their enthusiasm, and their sense of wonder because they have a fascinating perspective on the world!

Web Site: http://www.deq.virginia.gov/education/homepage.html
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Serving the Environment: A Guide to Best Practices for Environmental Service-Learning | Audrey Anderson

Resource type: Guide - Web Site
Topics: Service Learning

http://www.duluth.k12.mn.us/stowe/service_learning/index.htm

This guide has been written to combine "best practice" advice from the experts, and practical wisdom from teachers and staff at Stowe Elementary School. While Stowe has focused on environmental service-learning, these methods can be transferred to all areas of service-learning, from a trial maintenance project to working with the elderly. Additionally, the basics of service-learning can be applied to all sizes of projects, whether they be school-wide or classroom based. What works at Stowe may not work at your site, but the wisdom and advice Stowe teachers have offered are helpful for any service-learning project. A you will see in the stories and thoughts of experts at Stowe's teachers, service-learning has the ability to transform a community, a classroom, or one child. As the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Everyone can be great, because everybody can serve."

Web Site: http://www.duluth.k12.mn.us/stowe/service_learning/index.htm
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Shop Used First! | Anoka County Integrated Waste Management Department

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Home Economics - Source Reduction - Waste Prevention - Waste Management

Where to buy and sell used items in and around Anoka County, MN. Items include: Books, bridal & formal wear, building materials, clothing, compact discs, tapes & records, thrift stores, eye glasses, furniture, toy lending, sporting goods and miscellaneous - rental.

Web Site: www.AnokaCounty.us/recycle
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Simplify the Holidays Booklet | The Center for a New American Dream

Resource type: Booklet - Guide - Web Site
Topics: Green Living - Stewardship - Sustainability - Waste Prevention

The Center for a New American Dream is pleased to provide the brochure Simplify the Holidays, offering practical tips for having a holiday with more joy and less stuff. We hope this guide will help you reduce stress and increase your personal fulfillment during this holiday season. The booklet contains great guides to help you set a budget, relieve stress, come up with new gift ideas, and make your holiday season more meaningful.

We invite you to get a copy of the booklet and explore the rest of our Simplify the Holidays website at http://www.newdream.org/holiday/index.php.

Download a free pdf copy of the brochure at http://www.newdream.org/holiday/brochure.php

Web Site: http://www.newdream.org/holiday/brochure.php
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Standard guide for development and implementation of a pollution prevention program | American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Education - Economics

Standard for measurement, pollution prevention, cost accounting, financial analysis, risk assessment, total quality mangement, training, and purchasing.

Web Site: http://www.mntap.umn.edu
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Stormwater Calculator | Green Values: Stormwater Toolbox

Resource type: Web Site - Guide
Topics: Water - Conservation - Landscape - General Ecology

The Chicago-based Center for Neighborhood Technology has created a simple web-based tool that quantifies the reduced runoff and cost of using alternatives to curbing and piping stormwater offsite. While larger cities have engineering staff who use more sophisticated tools, this one is useful for towns, homeowners and citizen volunteers on municipal committees.

First choose from six "green interventions" such as using porous pavement on driveways and sidewalks. Then choose a development scenario such as suburban new development. Finally fill in 12 factors such as size and slopes. The calculator then produces extensive financial and hydrologic details such as:

Total peak discharge reduction

First year and 100 year comparative costs and benefits

Present value and per-lot financial detail

Maintenance detail

C02, air pollution and groundwater benefits

Web Site: http://greenvalues.cnt.org/calculator
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Sucker Creek Preserve Tour | Pelican River Watershed District

Resource type: EE Site - Field Trip/Tour - Guide - Resource Person
Topics: Bio-Diversity - Geology - Stewardship - Water

Preservation
After completing this activity, students will be able to have a better understanding about:
-Water processes, geology, archeology, biodiversity, native plants and their communities, bird identification and environmental preservation and its benefits.

**********

ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
SYSTEM CONCEPT(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
cycles
ecosystems
knowledge
migration

SYSTEM BENCHMARK(S) TO BE ADDRESSED FOR GRADES PreK-2, 3-5, 6-8:
Grades PreK-2
A-1 Social systems and natural systems are made of parts.
Grades 3 - 5
B-1 In social and natural systems that consist of many parts, the parts usually influence one another.
Grades 6 - 8
C-3 Social and natural systems are connected to each other and to other larger or smaller systems.

**********

MINNESOTA ACADEMIC STANDARDS
MINNESOTA SCIENCE STANDARD(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
K.IV.G.1 - The student will observe and describe the environment using the five senses.

1.IV.B.1 - The student will observe and describe how plants and animals grow and change.

2.IV.C.1 - The student will observe and describe some features of plants and animals that allow them to live in specific environments.

3.IV.C.2 - The student will know that changes in a habitat can be beneficial or harmful to an organism.

4.IV.B.1 - The student will classify plants and animals according to their physical characteristics.

4.III.A.1 - The student will identify and investigate environmental issues and potential solutions.

5.IV.E.1 - The student will recognize that individuals of the same species differ in their characteristics and that sometimes the differences give individuals an advantage in surviving and reproducing.

6.I.B.2 - The student will distinguish among observation, prediction and inference.

7.IV.C.1 - The student will provide examples of the potentially irreversibile effects of human activity on ecosystems.

7.IV.C.2 - The student will define a population as all individuals of a species that exist together at a give place and time.

8.III.A.1 - The student will identify and research an environmental issue and evaluate its impact.

8.III.A.2 - The student will describe how features on the Earth's surface are created and constantly changing through a combination of slow and rapid processes of weathering, erosion, sediment deposition, landslides, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

9-12.I.C.4 - The student will know that technological changes and scientific advances are often accompanied by social, political, environmental and economic changes.

9-12.I.D.3 - The student will compare and contrast the differences between scientific theories from other bodies of knowledge, and the importance of each in a science discussion.

**********
NIPreK
NIK
NI1
NI2
NI3
NI4
NI5
NI6
NI7
NI8
NI9
NI10
NI11
NI12

Posted by Natural Innovations

Web Site: http://www.prwd.org
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Sucker Creek Preserve Tour- Middle School | Pelican River Watershed District

Resource type: EE Site - Field Trip/Tour - Guide - Resource Person
Topics: Bio-Diversity - Geology - Minerals - Water

After completing this activity, students will be able to have a better understanding about:
-Water in earth systems globally and what it has to do with MN
-Geological process of our area and how water affects it
-Rocks and minerals in MN and identification
-Geological history of our state or area
-Water process effects in MN-good or bad

**********

ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
SYSTEM CONCEPT(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
change and constancy
ecosystems
geomorphism
knowledge

SYSTEM BENCHMARK(S) TO BE ADDRESSED FOR GRADES 6-8:
Grades 6 - 8
C-3 Social and natural systems are connected to each other and to other larger or smaller systems.

**********

MINNESOTA ACADEMIC STANDARDS
MINNESOTA SCIENCE STANDARD(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
7.IV.C.3 - The student will define an ecosystem as all populations living together and the physical factors with which they interact.

7.IV.C.4 - The student will explain the factors that affect the number and types of organisms an ecosystem can support, including available resources, abiotic and biotic factors and disease.

8.III.A.3 - The student will describe the various processes and interactions of the rock cycle.

8.III.A.5 - The student will recogize that constructive and destructive Earth processes can affect the evidence of Earth's history.

9-12.III.A.3 - The student will illustrate how biological processes have played significant roles in determining the character of the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere over time.

9-12.III.A.6 - The student will describe the rock cycle and compare and contrast the processes responsible for the formation of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.

**********
NI7
NI8
NI9

Posted by Natural Innovations

Web Site: http://www.prwd.org
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Sucker Creek Water processes and Geology | Pelican River Watershed District

Resource type: Guide - Resource Person - Speaker
Topics: Diversity - Geology - Habitat

After completing this activity, students will be able to understand:
-Water in earth systems globally and what it has to do with MN
-Geological process of our area and how water affects it
-Rocks and mineral in MN and identification
-Geological history of our state or area
-Water process effects in MN-good or bad

**********

ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
SYSTEM CONCEPT(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
change and constancy
geomorphism
properties

SYSTEM BENCHMARK(S) TO BE ADDRESSED FOR GRADES 9-12(adult):
D-1 The interaction of social and natural systems can create properties that are different from either individual system.

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MINNESOTA ACADEMIC STANDARDS
MINNESOTA SCIENCE STANDARD(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
9-12.III.A.1 - The student will identify and research an environmental issue and evaluate its impact.

9-12.III.A.3 - The student will illustrate how biological processes have played significant roles in determining the character of the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere over time.

9-12.III.A.5 - The student will describe how glaciers, gravity, wind, temperature changes, waves and rivers cause weathering and erosion.

9-12.III.A.6 - The student will describe rock cycle and compare and contrast the processes responsible for the formation of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.

***********
NI10
NI11
NI12

Posted by Natural Innovations

Web Site: http://www.prwd.org
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Summer Field Trips and Tours | Field Trip Director

Resource type: Field Trip/Tour - Guide - EE Site - Teacher Training
Topics: Geology - Earth - Minerals - Mining

During the months of May through October, the Geological Society of Minnesota (GSM) conducts a series of professionally-guided, statewide and regional field trips. These are one-to-three day excursions made to points of geologic interest not usually experienced by the casual traveler. They afford a very memorable and satisfying learning experience as there are always plenty of hands-on and question-answering opportunities. Frequently, the nature of the site allows the collecting of field samples. A comradery with enthusiastic learners and people curious about their natural environment is always a reward in itself. There is a small charge for any shared expense, and a liability waiver must be signed for each participant.

Lately, on alternate years, there has been an extended two-week national field trip to a fascinating and scenic region of great geologic interest. These trips are thoroughly prepared, professionally guided, and extremely inexpensive, so that many members have come to plan their summer vacations around them. Again, a liability waiver must be signed for each participant.

Participation in GSM field trips and tours is usually limited and advanced registration is required. Scheduled excursions are listed on the SEEK calendar or the GSM web site: http://www.gsmn.org (and click on FIELD TRIPS).

Web Site: http://www.gsmn.org
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Sustainable Communities: Maple Syruping | White Earth Land Recovery Project

Resource type: Field Trip/Tour - Guide - Resource Person
Topics: Agriculture - Culture - Forests - Mathematics

After completing this activity, students should be able to:
-Use thermometer and hydrometer during syrup making
-Study traditional native methods and compare to modern methods
-Incorporate math skills in terms of ratios and $$
Skills:
-ID Maple trees for tapping
-Tap a tree, set up a collection bucket
-Collect and process sap

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ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
SYSTEM CONCEPT(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
community
innovation and invention
knowledge
resources

SYSTEM BENCHMARK(S) TO BE ADDRESSED FOR GRADES 6-8:
C-1 Social and natural systems can include processes as well as things.

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MINNESOTA ACADEMIC STANDARDS
MINNESOTA SCIENCE STANDARD(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
7.I.D.2. The student will cite examples of how culture influences scientific and technological advances.

7.IV.F.1. The student will know that plants use the energy in light to make sugars out of carbon dioxide and water.

8.I.D.1 - The student will relate personal experiences in scientific investigation to the experiences of scientists throughout history.

8.I.D.2- The student will cite examples of how science and technology contributed to changes in agriculture, manufacturing, sanitation, medicine, warfare, transportation, information processing or communication.

9-12.I.C.4- The student will know that technological changes and scientific advances are often accompanied by social, political, environmental and economic changes.

9-12.I.C.5- The student will recognize that science and technology are influenced by cultural backgrounds and beliefs and by social needs, attitudes, values and limitations.

**********
NI7
NI8
NI9

Posted by Natural Innovations

Web Site: http://www.welrp.org
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Sustainable Communities: Wild Rice, Three Sisters Garden, Natural Medicines/Healing | White Earth Land Recovery Project

Resource type: Field Trip/Tour - Guide - Resource Person - Speaker
Topics: Agriculture - Culture - Health - Medicine

After completing this activity, students will be able to:
-Understand adaptation to their environment
-Honor/introduce Ojibwe history
-Identify native foods, living in harmony with the land
-Understand how early cultures harvested/conserved natural/native foods and crop
-Identify edible plants in nature
Skills:
-Identify
-Harvest, prepare, cook (rice, 3 sisters)
-Plant native plants (interdiscipl. with soil unit)
Vocabulary:
Winow, chaff, Native/Ojibwe Language

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ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
SYSTEM CONCEPT(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
community
ecosystems
mutation
resources

SYSTEM BENCHMARK(S) TO BE ADDRESSED FOR GRADES 3-5, 6-8:
Grades 3-5
B-1 In social and natural systems that consist of many parts, the parts usually influence one another.
Grades 6-8
C-3 Social and natural systems are connected to each other and to other larger or smaller systems.

**********

MINNESOTA ACADEMIC STANDARDS
MINNESOTA SCIENCE STANDARD(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
7.I.D.2- The student will cite examples of how culture influences scientific and technological advances.

7.IV.E.3- The student will explain how biological adaptations in structure, function and behavior enhance the reproductive success and survival of a species in a particular environment.

7.IV.E.4- The student will recognize that scientific evidence can be used to infer common ancestry among some organisms.

7.IV.E.5- The student will explain how diversity of species develops through gradual processes over generations.

8.I.D.2. The student will cite examples of how science and technology contributed to changes in agriculture, manufacturing, sanitation, medicine, warfare, transportation, information processing or communication.

9-12.I.C.4- The student will know that technological changes and scientific advances are often accompanied by social, political, environmental and economic changes.

9-12.I.C.5- The student will recognize that science and technology are influenced by cultural backgrounds and beliefs and by social needs, attitudes, values and limitations.

MINNESOTA HISTORY AND SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARD(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
K-3.I.A.1- Students will compare family life in his or her community from earlier times and today.

K-3.I.A.3- Students will compare technologies from earlier times and today, and identify the impact of invention on historical change.

K-3.VI.A.3- Students will understand and explain that the concept of scarcity means that one cannot have all the goods and services that one wants.

K-3.VI.A.4- Students will give examples of tradeoffs (opportunity costs).

K-3.VI.A.5- Students will understand and explain that as producers they can earn money (income) that can be spent or saved as they choose.

***********
NI3
NI4
NI5
NI6
NI7
NI8
NI9

Posted by Natural Innovations

Web Site: http://www.welrp.org
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Sustainable Landscaping -- free slideshow & toolkit | US Environmental Protection Agency

Resource type: Web Site - Slides - Guide - Book/Magazine
Topics: Landscape - Human Communities - Botany - Habitat

Green Landscaping with Native Plants http://www.epa.gov/greenacres/index.html
Among the many excellent resources on this "Green Landscaping with Native Plants" web site by the Environmental Protection Agency is a 62-slide Adobe Acrobat file free for downloading. Subtitled "The Hidden Impacts of Gardens," this colorful slide show presents information on the environmental impacts to air, water, land and biodiversity of traditional landscaping and shows more environmental and economic alternatives such as using native plants in the landscape.

Beautiful landscape photographs and summary text illustrate quantitative environmental impacts, impacts to public health and safety, natural resource consumption, green landscaping principles, ecological value, aesthetics, reducing rainwater runoff, energy, water conservation, fertilizing, integrated pest management, composting, and maintenance.

The slide show is appropriate for community education classes and discussions with business and local government owners of land. Local government personnel may find another resource on this web site, "A Source Book on Natural
Landscaping for Public Officials", more useful due to its greater detail. Prepared in May 1997 by the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission, this on-line book emphasizes the economic and other benefits for units of government that move away from high-maintenance landscaping. Click on "Toolkit" under "Landscaping
Resources" at http://www.epa.gov/greenacres/index.html.

Web Site: http://www.epa.gov/greenacres/index.html
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Tall Grass Prairie | Lake Carlos Environmental Center

Resource type: Guide - Pamphlet - Booklet - Field Trip/Tour
Topics: Prairies - Bio-Diversity - Eco-systems - Conservation

The Tall Grass Prairie is a self guided tour of the Lake Carlos Environmental Center's on-going 4 acre prairie restoration project. Once the largest plant community in North America (18 million acres), today there are only a few small remnants remaining (150,000 acres). The Center invites you to visit our restored prairie as we try to create and manage the land as nature did. The guide will explain the project, introduce you to the prairie ecosystem, identify native prairie species and lead you on a walk through the fascinating world of the tall grass prairie.

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Taste the Change: How to Go Organic on Campus | Organic Agriculture and Products Education Institute (OAPEI)

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Sustainability

The nation's first guide for students who want to bring organic dining to campus is now available for download. This ground-breaking student guide is dedicated to feeding the organic revolution on campus.

The guide begins with an introduction to organic, including its definition, history, benefits, standards and labeling. It then presents an overview of the organizational tools needed for getting started on campus. Tips for working with food service, approaching issues like purchasing policy, working within budgetary constraints, and building relations with organic vendors are covered in detail. The guide also offers tips on how to raise awareness and support for organic on campus, as well as ways to showcase organic through special events and interactions with the media. In addition, the guide's innovative "spotlight" sections provide concrete examples from students at Yale, NYU, U.C. Berkeley and other universities who have successfully implemented these strategies to promote organic on campus.

The conversation about How to Go Organic on Campus continues at Organic on the Green (http://organiconthegreen.wordpress.com/), the ground-breaking student blog dedicated to feeding the organic revolution on campus.

This document is downloadable for free at http://theorganicinstitute.org/.

Web Site: http://www.theorganicinstitute.org/programs/taste
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Teachers' Guide to Arbor Month | Minnesota DNR Division of Forestry

Resource type: Guide - Curriculum - Guide
Topics: Botany - Forests - Eco-systems - Curriculum

This guide makes it easier than ever to integrate knowledge about trees, shrubs, and plants, and the natural world into your regular school curriculum. This cross-curricular thematic guide offers dozens of student-appealing lessons to supplement your daily lessons in: language arts, people and cultures, science and environment, math, the arts, games, and physical activities. It is an ideal enhancement to your environmental education program.

Keep you Teachers Guide to Arbor Month handy throughout the school year. It's a great reference for tree information any time, and offers a treasury of learning opportunities that integrate into your curriculum any time of the year.

The full guide is available in PDF format at http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/arbormonth/teachersguide.html

Web Site: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/arbormonth/teachers guide.html
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The Big Green Help: Grants and Educator Toolkit | Nickelodeon

Resource type: Grant/Funding - Web Site - Guide
Topics: Green Living - Water - Recycling - Sustainability

The Big Green Help is a global kid-led initiative that provides information and tools to help explain climate change to kids, and educates and empowers kids to make a difference by connecting them to earth-friendly activities in their everyday lives.

Download The Big Green Help Green Team Toolkit (http://www.nickjr.com/teachers/assets/BGH_Toolkit_ID_7_pdf_3_10.pdf) packed with environmental resources and ideas for Earth Day, summer camp and back-to-school activities for your school, club, troop or community group.

Web Site: http://www.nickjr.com/teachers/assets/BGH_Toolkit_ID_7_pdf_3_10.pdf
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The Brownfields Redevelopment Resource Guide: Sources of Public and Private Financing in Minnesota. | The Minnesota Environmental Initiative

Resource type: Booklet - Guide
Topics: Land - Business - Commercial

The Brownfields Redevelopment Resource Guide is a comprehensive
program by program outline of sources of financing for the redevelopment
of potentially contaminated urban property. This guide profiles
public and private grants, loans, and other funding mechanisms for
brownfields. The guide also contains a list of contacts for further
information on technical, legal, and financial aspects of urban
redevelopment.

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The Cost of Cool: Youth, Consumption & the Environment | The Video Project

Resource type: Video - Guide
Topics: Culture - Source Reduction

Hosted by Baywatch star, Alexandra Paul. This video shows teenagers the environmental price it takes to have the latest, "coolest" stuff. From T-shirts to sneakers, it shows the impact of their manufacturing process on the world's resources. The consumer cost of these items are compared to their environmental cost and offers a revealing examination of over-consumption. This video encourages teens to think about their beliefs and understand the effects for themselves and the world if we each consume more wisely. This is an excellent video to springboard discussion.

A 29 page Educator Resource Guide is also available upon request.

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The Environmental Education Collection - A Review of Resources for Educators (Vols. 1, 2 & 3) | North American Association for Environmental Education

Resource type: Book/Magazine - Booklet - Pamphlet - Guide
Topics: Curriculum - Education - Teaching

Do you sometimes feel that you're reinventing the wheel, developing lessons only to find that someone else has published an entire guidebook on the topic?

The Environmental Education Collection - A Review of Resources for
Educators (Vols. 1, 2 & 3) review educational materials to help educators identify resources to meet their needs. Each volume includes a broad range of K-12 educational materials from curriculum guides to videos to CDs. Each entry has undergone extensive review using Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence.

Volumes 1-3 are publications of the National Project for Excellence in
Environmental Education, initiated by the North American Association for Environmental Education and funded through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (1997 and 1998. ISBN 1-884008-55-0, 1-884008-58-5, and 1-884008-70-4, respectively.)

Web Site: http://www.naaee.org/
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The Handbook for Developing Water Plans to Restore and Protect Our Waters | The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Resource type: Book/Magazine - Guide - Web Site
Topics: Water - Pollution - Eco-systems

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a draft guide to help communities, watershed organizations, and local, state, tribal and federal environmental agencies to develop and implement watershed plans to meet water quality standards and protect water resources. The Handbook for Developing Water Plans to Restore and Protect Our Waters offers practical tips and a robust framework to help any and all local or regional watershed planning efforts. The Handbook should be particularly useful to those working to improve and restore impaired or threatened waters. EPA intends for the Handbook to supplement the many good watershed planning guides developed by other agencies, universities, and nonprofit organizations.

You can order a free paper copy of the Handbook from the National Service Center for Environmental Publications by contacting NSCEP at (800) 490-9198 or by e-mail at ncepimal@one.net, and request EPA document number EPA-841-B-05-005. You may also download a PDF version of the Handbook for free at www.epa.gov/nps/watershed_handbook.

Web Site: http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps/watershed_handbook/#contents
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The Little Green Schoolhouse: Thinking Big About Ecological Sustainability, Children's Environmental Health and K-12 Education in the USA | Green Schools Initiative

Resource type: Guide - Web Site - Booklet
Topics: Source Reduction - Environmental Health - Waste Prevention - Sustainable Development

The San Francisco-based Green Schools Initiative has just released a new report, The Little Green Schoolhouse: Thinking Big About Ecological Sustainability, Children's Environmental Health and K-12 Education in the USA.

You can read the report online and/or download it via a new website, www.greenschools.net

The Little Green Schoolhouse establishes a framework that brings together a variety of school-related environmental health and sustainability issues under one conceptual and strategic roof. It documents how our current school systems are threats to our childrens' health and models of unsustainability. Drawing from a diversity of inspiring efforts going on around the country, the report also presents a broad idealistic vision of what green and healthy schools could look like. And it articulates a series of pragmatic policy recommendations, including organizing to pass school board resolutions that serve as blueprints for sustainable and healthy schools.

Overall, The Little Green Schoolhouse aims to provide parents, educators, students, environmental and health advocates, school board members, policy makers and interested community members with tools to work together to create healthy, sustainable schools.

A limited supply of hard copies of the report are also available.

Web Site: http://www.greenschools.net
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The Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy: a baseline survey of adult environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors | Hamline University's Center for Global Environmental Education, Dr. Tony Murphy

Resource type: Report - Research - Guide
Topics: Education - Research - Evaluation - Human Communities

A baseline survey of adult environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors

Minnesota residents continue to encounter a variety of environmental issues. What knowledge and skills do they need to be able to solve these issues? It is clear that Minnesota needs an environmentally literate citizenry-one that has knowledge about, and attitudes toward the environment and the issues that in turn may affect behaviors related to the environment.

What does environmental literacy mean? People who are environmentally literate:

understand the complexity of natural and social systems and their interrelationships.

demonstrate the knowledge, skills, attitudes, motivation, and commitment to work individually and collectively toward sustaining a healthy natural and social environment.

have the capacity to perceive and interpret the health of environmental and social systems and take appropriate action to maintain, restore, or improve the health of those systems.

The Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy www.mnseek.net/reportcard, 2002, documents the results of the first statewide survey, which was conducted in 2001, concerning environmental literacy of adults in Minnesota. It created a baseline of environmental literacy for residents of the state. Two more report cards have been written. The Second Minnesota Report Card was published in 2004 and The Third Minnesota Report Card was published in 2008. All can be found at www.mnseek.net/reportcard. Minnesota adults were surveyed for their knowledge about, attitudes toward, and behaviors related to the environment.

In The Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy, questions on urban sprawl and fertilizer use were included along with general knowledge, attitude and behavior questions. The second report card (2004), had questions on water and in the third report card (2008) questions on energy and climate change.

Results for this report card are compared to survey results of Pennsylvania residents and United States citizens. It is important to conduct similar surveys in the future. By continuing to collect information about Minnesotans' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, we can track trends in environmental literacy and highlight any appropriate changes to our education efforts.

Survey Instrument

From August through November 2001, a random sample of 1,000 Minnesota adults answered a series of questions in a telephone survey conducted by the Wilder Research Center (St. Paul, Minn.). A copy of the entire survey is available in Appendix A. See Appendix C for the final frequencies of responses to each individual question. www.mnseek.net/reportcard

The Minnesota environmental literacy survey was developed with members of the working group (see acknowledgements page of the report). The survey instrument includes questions from various National Report Cards on Environmental Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors conducted by the National Environmental Education Training Foundation and Roper Starch Worldwide. Questions were also developed specifically for this survey.

Data Analysis

Data from the survey interviews were analyzed using frequencies of occurrence and the Pearson Chi-Square, which tests the relationship between two variables and reports statistical significance. One set of variables in this report is the demographics (gender, age, education, location, income), while the other set is the questions from the survey.

Demographics

The respondents to the survey were divided according to specific demographics to allow for analysis of the data. The demographics selected were gender, age (18-34, 35-44, 45-64, and 65 and over), education (high school, some college, college degree), location (seven-county metro, other metro areas in the state, non-metro or rural areas), and income ($30,000 or less, $30,001-$50,000, $50,001-$75,000, and over $75,000). The Pearson Chi-Square determines a statistical relationship between two variables, in this case, demographics and the questions.

Organization of the Minnesota Report Card

The Second Report Card is divided into four parts. The first three discuss specific sections of the survey: knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. The final section offers an integrated perspective to the overall report and to Minnesota adults' environmental literacy.

It is important to remember that this survey and report are not an evaluation of the public, but rather a further collection of information concerning the knowledge about, attitudes toward, and behaviors related to the environment in Minnesota. This will be used with the previous report-and future reports-to track trends and changes in environmental literacy as Minnesota adults are surveyed again at various points in the future.

Acknowledgements

The Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy was developed by Hamline University's Center for Global Environmental Education through a state Environmental Assistance grant. Dr. Tony Murphy, College of St. Catherine, was the principal author of the project.

For More Information:

To request a print copy of The Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy or The Second Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy - 2004 contact the MPCA Learning Resource Center at resourcecenter.pca@state.mn.us or 651-757-2120, 800-877-6300 toll free. All three report cards can be found online at www.mnseek.net/reportcard.

If you have questions concerning The Second Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy contact Dr. Tony Murphy at apmurphy@stkate.edu or 651-690-8877 or Denise Stromme at denise.stromme@state.mn.us or 218-316-3888.

Web Site: http://www.seek.state.mn.us/publications/reportcard2002.pdf
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The Second Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy: a survey of adult environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors | Hamline University's Center for Global Environmental Education, Dr. Tony Murphy

Resource type: Report - Research - Guide
Topics: Education - Research - Evaluation - Water

A survey of adult environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors

Minnesota residents continue to encounter a variety of environmental issues. What knowledge and skills do they need to be able to solve these issues? It is clear that Minnesota needs an environmentally literate citizenry-one that has knowledge about, and attitudes toward the environment and the issues that in turn may affect behaviors related to the environment.

What does environmental literacy mean? People who are environmentally literate:

understand the complexity of natural and social systems and their interrelationships.

demonstrate the knowledge, skills, attitudes, motivation, and commitment to work individually and collectively toward sustaining a healthy natural and social environment.

have the capacity to perceive and interpret the health of environmental and social systems and take appropriate action to maintain, restore, or improve the health of those systems.

The Second Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy www.mnseek.net/reportcard, August 2004, documents the results of the second statewide survey, which was conducted in 2003, concerning environmental literacy of adults in Minnesota. The first survey (2001)created a baseline of environmental literacy for residents of the state. And the third report card was published in 2008, with the survey conducted in 2007. All can be found at www.mnseek.net/reportcard Minnesota adults were surveyed for their knowledge about, attitudes toward, and behaviors related to the environment.

Some of the findings in the second report card include:

80 percent of Minnesotans view as important a candidate's record on the environment when voting.

Few Minnesotans believe environmental laws have gone "too far".

82 percent view loss of wetlands and residential runoff from yards as serious.

90 percent want schools to provide environmental education.

Most Minnesotans are taking some actions to protect the environment.

There is a connection between increased environmental knowledge, a more positive environmental attitude, and behavior changes to protect the environment.

Overall Minnesotans reported that they know the most about water pollution (61 percent) and least about sustainability (20 percent) and biodiversity (14 percent).

The Second Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy follows a similar format to the previous report; however, it goes on to examine changes that occurred in the intervening period for questions used in both surveys. Comparisons are also made to Pennsylvania residents and United States citizens. These comparisons are based on similar studies performed by Pennsylvania and nationally. While some of the data from these surveys may seem old, they are important to include, as Pennsylvania is still the only other state to conduct a similar survey. See Pennsylvania report.

It is important to conduct similar surveys in the future. By continuing to collect information about Minnesotans' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, we can track trends in environmental literacy and highlight any appropriate changes to our education efforts.

Survey Instrument
From August through November 2003, a random sample of 1,000 Minnesota adults answered a series of questions in a telephone survey conducted by the Wilder Research Center (St. Paul, Minn.). A copy of the entire survey is available in Appendix A. www.mnseek.net/reportcard See Appendix C for the final frequencies of responses to each individual question.

The Minnesota environmental literacy survey was developed with members of the working group (see acknowledgements page of the report). The survey instrument includes questions from various National Report Cards on Environmental Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors (referred to as National Environmental Report Cards in this report) conducted by the National Environmental Education Training Foundation and Roper Starch Worldwide. Questions were also developed specifically for this survey.

Data Analysis
Data from the survey interviews were analyzed using frequencies of occurrence and the Pearson Chi-Square, which tests the relationship between two variables and reports statistical significance. One set of variables in this report is the demographics (gender, age, education, location, income), while the other set is the questions from the survey.

Demographics
The respondents to the survey were divided according to specific demographics to allow for analysis of the data. The demographics selected were gender, age (18-34, 35-44, 45-64, and 65 and over), education (high school, some college, college degree), location (seven-county metro, other metro areas in the state, non-metro or rural areas), and income ($30,000 or less, $30,001-$50,000, $50,001-$75,000, and over $75,000). The Pearson Chi-Square determines a statistical relationship between two variables, in this case, demographics and the questions.

Organization of the Second Report Card
The Second Report Card is divided into four parts. The first three discuss specific sections of the survey: knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. The final section offers an integrated perspective to the overall report and to Minnesota adults' environmental literacy.

It is important to remember that this survey and report are not an evaluation of the public, but rather a further collection of information concerning the knowledge about, attitudes toward, and behaviors related to the environment in Minnesota. This will be used with the previous report-and future reports-to track trends and changes in environmental literacy as Minnesota adults are surveyed again at various points in the future.

Acknowledgements
The Second Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy was developed by Hamline University's Center for Global Environmental Education through a state Environmental Assistance grant. Dr. Tony Murphy, College of St. Catherine, was the principal author of the project.

For More Information:
To request a printed copy of The Second Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy - 2004 or The Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy - 2002 contact the MPCA Learning Resource Center at resourcecenter.pca@state.mn.us or 651-757-2120, 800-877-6300 toll free. All three report cards can be found online at www.mnseek.net/reportcard.

If you have questions concerning The Second Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy contact Dr. Tony Murphy at apmurphy@stkate.edu or 651-690-8877 or Denise Stromme at denise.stromme@state.mn.us or 218-316-3888.

Web Site: http://www.seek.state.mn.us/publications/reportcard2004.pdf
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The Third Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy: a survey of adult environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors | Anthony Murphy, Ph.D. and Andrea Olson, Ph.D., of the College of St. Catherine

Resource type: Report - Research - Guide
Topics: Education - Research - Evaluation - Energy

understand the complexity of natural and social systems and their interrelationships.

demonstrate the knowledge, skills, attitudes, motivation, and commitment to work individually and collectively toward sustaining a healthy natural and social environment.

have the capacity to perceive and interpret the health of environmental and social systems and take appropriate action to maintain, restore, or improve the health of those systems.

The Third Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy (2008) documents the results of the third statewide survey concerning the environmental literacy of adults in Minnesota. http://www.seek.state.mn.us/publications/reportcard2008.pdf For the report cards, 1,000 Minnesota adults were surveyed by telephone for their knowledge about, attitudes toward, and behaviors related to the environment. The results of these statewide surveys have been summarized in report cards, where responses are broken down demographically and compared to related survey questions in studies performed in Minnesota, by other states, and nationally.

In The Third Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy questions on energy and climate change were included along with general knowledge, attitude and behavior questions. The first report card (2002) included questions on urban sprawl and in the second report card (2004), questions on water. www.mnseek.net/reportcard

Some of the findings in the third report card include:

93 percent of Minnesotans support environmental education in schools.

85 percent participate in recycling programs.

67 percent believe that renewable energy is the best means to meet America's energy needs.

41 percent of Minnesotans reported that they frequently purchase locally grown food.

time spent outdoors in a non-work capacity ranged from 12 percent reporting five or fewer hours per week outdoors to 7.4 percent reporting more than 40 hours per week outdoors.

It is important to conduct similar surveys in the future. By continuing to collect information about Minnesotans' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, we can track trends in environmental literacy and highlight any appropriate changes to our education efforts.

Survey Instrument
From August through November 2007, a random sample of 1,000 Minnesota adults answered a series of questions in a telephone survey conducted by Marketline Research. A copy of the entire survey is available in Appendix A. www.mnseek.net/reportcard See Appendix C for the final frequencies of responses to each individual question.

The Minnesota environmental literacy survey was developed with members of the working group (see acknowledgements page of the report). The survey instrument includes questions from various National Report Cards on Environmental Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors (referred to as National Environmental Report Cards in this report) conducted by the National Environmental Education Training Foundation and Roper Starch Worldwide, previous Minnesota report cards and other surveys. Questions were also developed specifically for this survey.

Data Analysis
Data from the survey interviews were analyzed using frequencies of occurrence and the Pearson Chi-Square, which tests the relationship between two variables and reports statistical significance. One set of variables in this report is the demographics (gender, age, education, location, income), while the other set is the questions from the survey.

Demographics
The respondents to the survey were divided according to specific demographics to allow for analysis of the data. The demographics selected were gender, age (18-34, 35-44, 45-64, and 65 and over), education (high school, some college, college degree), location (seven-county metro, other metro areas in the state, non-metro or rural areas), and income ($30,000 or less, $30,001-$50,000, $50,001-$75,000, and over $75,000). The Pearson Chi-Square determines a statistical relationship between two variables, in this case, demographics and the questions.

Organization of the Third Report Card
The Third Report Card is divided into four parts. The first three discuss specific sections of the survey: knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. The final section offers an integrated perspective to the overall report and environmental literacy research.

It is important to remember that this survey and report are not an evaluation of the public, but rather a further collection of information concerning the knowledge about, attitudes toward, and behaviors related to the environment in Minnesota. This will be used with the previous report-and future reports-to track trends and changes in environmental literacy as Minnesota adults are surveyed again at various points in the future.

Acknowledgements
The Third Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy was written by written by Anthony Murphy, Ph.D. and Andrea Olson, Ph.D., of the College of St. Catherine, with funding from the MN Pollution Control Agency.

For More Information
To read and/or download The Third Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy go to www.mnseek.net/reportcard.

If you have questions concerning The Third Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy contact Dr. Tony Murphy at apmurphy@stkate.edu or 651-690-8877 or Denise Stromme at denise.stromme@state.mn.us or 218-316-3888.

Web Site: http://www.seek.state.mn.us/publications/reportcard2008.pdf
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The Twin Cities Green Guide | The Twin Cities Green Guide

Resource type: Guide - Web Site
Topics: Health - Education - Energy - Culture

The purpose of The Twin Cities Green Guide is to create a printed guidebook and web site to educate Twin Cities Metro area residents about environmental issues, serve as a quick environmental reference tool and promote a self-sustaining and community-oriented lifestyle. The Twin Cities Green Guide will ensure that people of all incomes will have access to the guide.

The Twin Cities Green Guide is a non-profit organization that formed in August of 2000. Our organization will keep the web site updated and create a new print edition of this guidebook every four years.

We will donate a guidebook to any school library as a resource. To request your free copy contact us by email at info@thegreenguide.org or phone 612-623-7770.

Web Site: http://www.thegreenguide.org/
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Threatened by Success: Population and Consumption Issues for conservation- video, participants issues guide and organizers guide | Izaak Walton League

Resource type: Video - Guide
Topics: Population - Resource Management - Sustainable Development

IWLA leaders and members talk about integrating human population growth, natural resource consumption and technology efficiently and developing strategies for sustainability.

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Tree Trust's How to Plant a Tree the Right Way | Tree Trust

Resource type: Pamphlet - Guide
Topics: Environmental Studies - Horticulture

This step-by-step fact sheet gives helpful instructions on how to plant containerized and balled-and-burlapped trees and shrubs. Download for free here: http://www.treetrust.org/pdf/community-forestry-plant-a-tree.pdf.

Web Site: http://www.treetrust.org
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U of M Bee Lab | University of Minnesota Extension Service

Resource type: Web Site - Research - Course/Workshop - Guide
Topics: Animals

All about bees

If a school or class is interested in a project on rearing bees, The Bee Lab website of the University of Minnesota Extension Service provides much information. Topics covered include beekeeping manuals, videos, bumble bee rearing guides, and information of research and activities at the University of Minnesota. There is also a listing of courses for the public as well as academic and online courses.

Web Site: http://www.extension.umn.edu/honeybees
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Ultimate Tree-Ring Web Pages | Dr. Henri D. Grissino-Mayer

Resource type: Web Site - Guide
Topics: Forests/Trees

Tree-ring dating, known also as dendrochronology, has a variety of applications. A gallery of photos of trees and their rings can be viewed online at the Ultimate Tree-Ring Web Pages; some were used specifically in tree-ring research. The website may be useful for Arbor Day activities (April 24) with its list of conferences and events, books and other resources.

The author's is to make available as much information about dendrochronology on the Internet, from the basics of tree-ring dating, to reference and bibliographic information, to products and supplies, to books, and more! My mission was born from an overwhelming need among dendrochronologists for a permanent repository of information that was free to the public, easily understandable, and as comprehensive as humanly possible.

Web Site: http://web.utk.edu/~grissino/
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US EPA Students and Teachers area | Environmental Protection Agency

Resource type: Web Site - Curriculum - Organization - Guide
Topics: Eco-systems - Pollution - Pollution Prevention - Science

The US EPA has an area specifically for students and teachers.
This area has information on curriculum and teaching guides,
facts about the environment and are schools environmentally
safe? Access to information about eco-systems and information about
the environment is also available.

Web Site: http://www.epa.gov/epahome/students.htm
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Using Electricity at Home: Energy-Saving Tips and Safety Information | Xcel Energy

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Energy

We'll all benefit from a more energy-efficient world and a cleaner environment, and this guide will get you started on saving energy today. Included are:

A range of tips that will help you save energy around your home every day

Information about online resources found at xcelenergy.com that will help you do a more thorough analysis of your home's energy efficiency

A chart that helps you estimate the costs to operate common household appliances and compares them with the costs of operating energy efficient models

Web Site: http://www.xcelenergy.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/docs/UsingElectricityAtHome.pdf
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Water Quality-Collection and Analysis | Pelican River Watershed District

Resource type: EE Site - Guide - Resource Person - Speaker
Topics: Environmental Health - Pollution - Pollution Prevention - Water

Students will learn:
-How to collect a sample correctly-sterilization
-How to test the water using scientific equipment
-How to store a sample correctly

Students will be able to analyze:
-County lakes and human impact, stormwater runoff
-Pretreatment vs non pre-treatment of runoff

Students will understand:
-Dissolved oxygen, ph, nitrates
-What factors are important to good, healthy water
-How each factor affects the quality of water
-How students can be stewards by understanding how they are a part of each of the parts

**********

ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
SYSTEM CONCEPT(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
Abiotic facgtors
Accumulation
Cause and effect
Function

SYSTEM BENCHMARK(S) TO BE ADDRESSED FOR GRADES 6-8,9-12(adult):
Grades 6 - 8
C-3 Social and natural systems are connected to each other and to other larger or smaller systems.

Grades 9 - 12 (adult)
D-1 The interaction of social and natural systems can create properties that are different from either individual system.
D-3 Feedback of output from some parts of a managed social or natural system can be used to bring it closer to desired results.
D-4 It is not always possible to predict accurately the result of changing some part or connection between social and natural systems.

**********

MINNESOTA ACADEMIC STANDARDS
MINNESOTA SCIENCE STANDARD(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
7.I.B.2 - The student will recognize that a variable is a condition that may influence the outcome of an investigation and know the importance of manipulating one variable at a time.

7.I.B.4 - The student will explain how classroom scientific investigations relate to established scientific principles.

8.I.B.1 - The student will know that scientific investigations involve the common elements of systematic observations, the careful collection of relevant evidence, logical reasoning and innovation in developing hypothese and explanations.

8.I.B.2 - The student will describe how scientists can conduct investigations in a simple system and make generalizations to more complex systems.

9-12.I.A.1 - The student will be able to distinguish among hypothesis, theory and law as scientific terms and how they are used to answer a specific question.

9-12.I.B.1 - The student will design and complete a scientific experiment using scientific methods by determining a testable question, making a hypothesis, designing a scientific investigation with appropriate controls, analyzing data, making conclusions based on evidence and comparing conclusions to the original hypothesis and prior knowledge.

************
NI7
NI8
NI9

Posted by Natural Innovations

Web Site: http://www.prwd.org
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Watershed Resources Youth Stewardship Project | Cairn and Associates

Resource type: Guide - Course/Workshop - Program - Teacher Training
Topics: Service Learning - Stewardship - Water - Pollution Prevention

This is a partnership between schools, watershed districts and other conservation agencies providing resources and training to teachers and youth organizations, on involving youth in service-learning projects addressing water quality issues in their communities.

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Watersheds-Mapping | Pelican River Watershed District

Resource type: Guide - Research - Resource Person - Speaker
Topics: Environmental Studies - Lake - Pollution - Water

Students will be able to:
-Read a map of a watershed and contour maps of areas lakes
-Read topography
-Differentiate maps that show vegetation (forest vs. farmland)

They will understand:
-How H2O gets into our watershed
-How the affects of runoff lends to poor water quality by using a map of point vs non-point sources
-Human impact on water quality
-Changing landforms over time
Contact: Pelican River Watershed District (218)846-0436

**********

ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
SYSTEM CONCEPT(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
Abiotic factors
Accumulation
Cause and effect
Probability

SYSTEM BENCHMARK(S) TO BE ADDRESSED FOR GRADES 6-8
C-3 Social and natural systems are connected to each other and to other larger or smaller systems.

FOR GRADES 9-12 (adult)
D-2 Interaction between social and natural systems is defined by their boundaries, relation to other systems, and expected inputs and outputs.

**********

MINNESOTA ACADEMIC STANDARDS
MINNESOTA SCIENCE STANDARD(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
7.IV.C.3 - The student will define an ecosystem as all populations living together and the physical factors with which they interact.

7.IV.C.4 - The student will explain the factors that affect the number and types of organisms an ecosystem can support, including available resources, abiotic and biotic factors and disease.

8.I.B.2 - The student will describe how scientists can conduct investigations in a simple system and make generalizations to more complex systems.

8.I.D.2 - The student will cite examples of how science and technology contributed to changes in agriculture, manufacturing, sanitation, medicine, warfare, transportation, information processing or communication.

9-12.I.B.6 - The student will give examples of how different domains of science use different bodies of scientific knowledge and employ different methods to investigate questions.

9-12.I.C.4 - The student will know that technological changes and scientific advances are often accompanied by social, political, environmental and economic changes.

**********
NI7
NI8
NI9
Posted by Natural Innovations

Web Site: http://www.prwd.org
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Watersheds: Water Quality, Sampling | Pelican River Watershed District

Resource type: Exhibit/Display - Guide - Resource Person - Speaker
Topics: Conservation - Environmental Studies - Lake - Water

Students will:
-Learn what a watershed is
-Collect water samples
-Identify a watershed's function in the environment.
-Learn how to identify individual watershed regions and their inter-connectedness
-Demonstrate knowledge of how human actions impact the natural state of watersheds.
-Understand the dynamics of what are the components of good water quality-oxygen, ph, solids, phosphates

**********

ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
SYSTEM CONCEPT(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
Abiotic factors
Function
Knowledge
Structure

SYSTEM BENCHMARK(S) TO BE ADDRESSED FOR GRADES 3-5, 6-8, 9-12(adult):
Grades 3 - 5
B-2 Social and natural systems may not function as well if parts are missing, damaged, mismatched, or misconnected.

Grades 6 - 8
C-2 The output from a social or natural system can become the input to other parts of social and natural systems.
C-3 Social and natural systems are connected to each other and to other larger or smaller systems.

Grades 9 - 12 (adult)
D-3 Feedback of output from some parts of a managed social or natural system can be used to bring it closer to desired results.

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MINNESOTA ACADEMIC STANDARDS
MINNESOTA SCIENCE STANDARD(S) TO BE ADDRESSED:
3.I.A.1 - The student will explore the use of science as a tool that can help investigate and answer question about the environment.

3.I.B.2 - The student will participate in a scientific investigation using appropriate tools.

4.I.B.2 - The student will collect, organize, analyze and present data from a controlled experiment.

5.I.B.1 - The student will perform a controlled experiment using a specific step-by-step procedure and present conclusions supported by the evidence.

6.I.B.2 - The student will distinguish among observation, prediction and inference.

7.I.B.2 - The student will recognize that a variable is a condition that may influence the outcome of an investigation and know the importance of manipulating one variable at a time.

8.I.B.1 - The student will know that scientific investigations involve the common elements of systematic observations, the careful collection of relevant evidence, logical reasoning and innovation in developing hypotheses and explanations.

8.I.B.2 - The student will describe how scientists can conduct investigations in a simple system and make generalizations to more complex systems.

9-12.I.A.3 - The student will recognize that in order to be valid, scientific knowledge must meet certain criteria including that it: be consistent with experimental, observational and inferential evidence about nature; follow rules of logic and reporting both methods and procedures; and, be falsifiable and open to criticism.

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NI3
NI4
NI5
NI6
NI7
NI8
NI9
NI10
NI11
NI12

Posted by Natural Innovations

Web Site: http://www.prwd.org
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We Learn, We Save, We Win (We3) Education Initiative | Environmental Education Advisory Board (EEAB)

Resource type: Guide - Curriculum
Topics: Education - Teaching - Environmental Health - Environmental Studies

Download the lessons at http://www.seek.state.mn.us/classrm_f.cfm

We Learn, We Save, We Win (We3) Education Initiative is a project that links environmental activities and resources from state agencies and businesses to the classroom. One lesson from each of the partnering organizations was selected. The topics included in these lessons are biological control (grade 3), exploring water ecosystems (grade 5), energy conservation (grade 6), disease prevention (grade 7), and recycling (grades 8-12).

The We3 Education Initiative offers examples of hands-on, project-based lessons for Minnesota classrooms. These lessons will help teachers and students use their classroom and local environment as a "laboratory for systems thinking." Through applying the grade-appropriate concepts and skills addressed in Minnesota's Academic Standards across disciplines (with a special focus on science), students will look to their own classroom and local environment in terms of how it impacts, and is impacted by, natural and social systems.

We Learn: Students record observations and data that identify how they have learned and achieved academic benchmarks and learning objectives.

We Save: Students quantify their project outcomes in terms of savings (time, energy, money, health, natural world, etc.)

We Win: Students share how all have "won" because of their efforts.

The idea is to engage students with relevant and authentic investigative learning that begins at the classroom level, and expands outward from there to the school, school grounds, students' homes, and community.

The We3 Education Initiative was developed through a state agency partnership with support from the Minnesota Environmental Education Advisory Board (EEAB) and the Minnesota Environmental Education Advisory Task Force (EEATF). The project partners include the Minnesota Department of Education, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Minnesota Department of Health, and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

"In this new century, education will increasingly mean the ability to think systemically-in terms of relationships, patterns, contexts, and processes." - Fritjof Capra, author, The Web of Life

Web Site: http://www.seek.state.mn.us/classrm_f.cfm
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Weatherguide Calendar

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Water - Communications - Meteorology

We would like to offer the 1997 Minnesota Weatherguide and Environment Calendar to Teachers at the reduced price of $5. We will offer the
calendar to the public after April 1st at this price, but this is an
excellent value for teachers and they can still get it by early in
March.

There is also a "Teacher's Resource Guide" to accompany the
Weatherguide Calendar. It is a great activity guide that allows the
weatherguide to be used in the classroom as part of the science
curriculum. It is available (in rather short supply), but a
reprinting could be done.

Send a check for $5, made payable to the Freshwater
Foundation to: 2500 Shadywood Road, Excelsior, MN 55331, for each copy
of the Weatherguide. We will ship their order by US mail the next day.

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Wind Turbine Blade Design Lesson from KidWind | KidWind Project

Resource type: Curriculum - Guide
Topics: Energy - Physics - Engineering - Education

Blade design and engineering is one of the most complicated and important aspects of current wind turbine technology. Engineers strive to design blades that extract as much energy from the wind as possible throughout a range of wind speeds and gusts. Blades must also be durable, quiet and affordable!

This lesson challenges students to explore the science behind wind turbine blade design. Students will utilize important tools like the scientific method and the design process. Students will collect, evaluate, and present data as they design wind turbine blades.

This lesson can be adapted for elementary, middle, or high school students.

A KidWind turbine or other model wind turbine with interchangeable blades is useful for this activity. Educational model turbines can be found here:
http://www.kidwind.org/xcart/home.php?cat=4

Web Site: http://www.kidwind.org/PDFs/LESSON_bladedesign.pdf
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Wonderful Working Worms: Composting Fact Sheet

Resource type: Pamphlet - Guide
Topics: Compost - Waste Prevention

Worm composting, also known as vermiculture composting, allows you to compost kitchen scraps even if you dont have space for a backyard compost bin. With an indoor worm bin, you can turn your kitchen scraps into a potent natural fertilizer all year long. Our fact sheet explains how to set up a worm composting bin, what you can feed your worms, and how to maintain a healthy worm bin.

We also offer worm composting workshops a few times a year.

Web Site: http://www.eurekarecycling.org
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Working on Waste (Leader's Guide) | Sue Thomas, Dave Moen

Resource type: Guide - Booklet
Topics: Waste Management - Recycling - Compost - Waste Prevention

Teaches educators of children ages 9 to 12 (but may be adapted for younger or older audiences) the fundamentals of solid waste management. Suggests ways that children can work on solid waste issues with group activities, individual projects or studies, and community service. Provides 12 hands-on activities to help children have fun while learning about waste.

Web Site: http://www.extension.umn.edu/Documents/D/A/DA6064.html
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WOW! Wonders of Wetlands | MN Project WET Coordinator

Resource type: Guide - Course/Workshop - Curriculum - Teacher Training
Topics: Wetlands - Education - Water - Teaching

K-12 teachers will enjoy using this guide; it features 70 pages of background material followed by more than 40 cross-referenced activities. Every page is thoughtfully laid out with core text, great photographs, side bars, maps, and illustrations to make information clear and quick to use. Activities are organized into five sections: wetlands definitions, wetlands plants and animals, water quality and supply issues, soils, and people. The appendix offers instructions for planning and developing a schoolyard wetland habitat.

#WOW-1 330 pages - 8 1⁄2 x 11 - b&w photos - illustrations -charts - glossary - resources

Web Site: http://mndnr.gov/projectwet
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Writing Because The Earth Matters | Quality Curriculum, Inc.

Resource type: Curriculum - Course/Workshop - Learning Kit - Guide
Topics: Earth - Conservation - General Ecology - Resource Management

Writing because it matters is an exploration of past interactions between humans and the environment which may encourage student response to specific environmental issues. Students are guided in letter writing to their legislators, governmental departments, or local companies to demonstrate the social and political power of the written word.

These activities are designed for use during Earth Week. The unit covers five days (five class periods, 50 minutes each). Any of the daily lessons can stand alone. Pick and choose to fit your classrooms needs and interests.

Web Site: http://www.qualitycurriculum.com
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Young Naturalists Study Guides | Dawn Flinn

Resource type: Guide - Web Site - Curriculum
Topics: Wildlife - Humanities - Forests - Science

Free language-arts activities and student guides for selected Minnesota Conservation Volunteer articles are now available online. They are designed for teachers and environmental educators working with elementary and middle school students.

Look for teaching materials and original articles for:
Oh Deer!
Six Slippery Salamanders
Fish Sense
Damsels and Dragons
Tremendous Marvelous Trees

By following links at

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/young_naturalists/index.html

Young Naturalists is a kid friendly feature found in every issue of selected Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, a bi-monthly conservation magazine published by the DNR.

Starting with January/February 2003 issue, each Young Naturalist story will have corresponding study guides. Comings up are topics such as Minnesota is Hoping with Rabbits and Hares, and more!

Web Site: http://www.mndnr.gov/young_naturalists/index.html
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Zebra Mussel WATCH Card | Great Lakes Sea Grant Network

Resource type: Guide
Topics: Exotic Species

The zebra mussel WATCH card is a wallet-sized identification card that has a color photo of zebra mussels and provides information on what to do if you find one. The cards are ideal for individuals and groups who want to be informed and to help slow the spread of zebra mussels.

Web Site: http://seagrant.umn.edu/publications/x01
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